ProtectorTale
by ProAJ13
Summary: Frisk wasn't the only one to climb up the mountain the day she fell, not this time. This time, she falls with someone else, some teen boy. This story follows the two as they go through the Underground, with Frisk, and her protector. Will she be able to spare and befriend everyone? Will his protective nature lead to someone's death? Will they even want to leave the Underground?
1. The Fall and The Flower

**I'm bored and I want to add my own commentary to Undertale, so I'm gonna do that. I just recently joined this fandom and haven't read any Undertale fanfics, so I have no idea if people have done this already, though I'm sure it's been done a million times… (the title for the fic has probably been used as well I imagine) oh well! Doing it anyway!**

 **In case I didn't say it in the summary, let me clarify that this will not be going through the genocide run, but the neutral/pacifist run. I actually am not sure which it will be yet though.**

 **Oh, and Frisk is a girl in my fic, deal with it.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(Warning: Depression and the topic of suicide are both mentioned.)**

 **(Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own Undertale or anything else that I may use or reference in this fic, such as songs or video games.)**

"Speech"

'thought'

SHOUTING/YELLING

 _Stressed words_

 **Speaking Demonically**

* * *

Protectortale Ch.1

* * *

Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: Humans and Monsters. One day, war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the humans were victorious. They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell.

Many years later…

Mt. Ebott, 201X

Legends say that those who climb the mountain never return.

"I can see why no one comes back from this mountain! Freaking vines _everywhere_!" A young man said to himself as he chopped through a large amount of vines, opening up to a clearing that was blocked by more vines. Seeing as he had been hiking for quite awhile, he decided to take another break in this small clearing. He looked down at his small machete and saw the reflection of a seventeen year old boy with medium length brown hair and brown eyes. His hair was a bit of a mess and his forehead had a layer of sweat on it.

He then looked to his left at the camera in his left hand. "Vines with spikes on them, random steep cliffs with rocks falling from them and hitting you in the head, random pits into god-knows-where… So far I haven't seen anything mysterious besides how damn hostile this place is! People talk about strange things happening here and that being why people disappear. Thing is, I haven't seen any strange things happening, at least not yet. I also don't see much wildlife around here, it's too hostile even for them. Since nothing as large as a deer can even make it here, there's probably nothing here that could eat anyone that gets lost here. That begs the question, where are the bodies then?" He asked the camera.

He really shouldn't be here, the authorities don't want anyone up here, and his parents were worried he wouldn't come back. He told them he was sure he would come back, hopefully with some hint as to why people go missing here. He neglected to mention that he hoped he would never come back. He just hoped the camera would survive if he didn't, maybe then people would know why they should be afraid of this mountain.

Eventually he felt good enough to continue on, onward and upward, cutting down endless vines as we went. "The vines, man! The vines!" He shouted in annoyance as he marched onward. "You know, if there was some mysterious, magical reason for why people go missing up here, I would believe it! Come on, Mt. Ebott! Give me something those scientists can't explain!" He shouted into the heavens.

He was met with silence…

…and another vine cutting into his shirt.

"VINES! WILL YOU PLEASE!?" He shouted angrily and cut the vine with his machete. He looked down and saw his brown long sleeve shirt had far more cuts in it than he would have liked... it's also a short sleeve now. "Aww man… and Mom had said this shirt really went with my eyes." He whined jokingly to himself before continuing on.

At some point, far up the mountain, he cut through vines and was thoroughly shocked to not meet more vines. Instead… "TREEEEES!? Holy- TREES! I HAVEN'T SEEN A TREE IN A COUPLE OF _YEARS_ AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED!" He exclaimed before falling over and gasping for breath as he rested on the grass. "I need to look deep inside myself to find what chill I have left because this mountain is driving me insane…" He deadpanned. "Those vines were ridiculous…"

When he got up and started walking again he quickly noticed that there was a dirt path amidst the trees. As he followed it, he was in awe by how beautiful this portion of the mountain was. The light came through the leaves of the trees in just the right way. Eventually the beautiful path ended and he reached a far less beautiful cave.

He pulled his machete out and held it with the intent to use it as a weapon. He also made sure the camera was rolling. "Alright… bear that managed to make it here alive and make a living here… insane scientist that performs horrible experiments on anyone who gets lost here… magic that I couldn't hope to understand?... Well, let's find out." He said before slowly walking into the cave.

He found none of those things and instead found that the cave ended with a massive pit. On the opposite side of the pit was another large opening into the cave. "Whoa…" He said, in awe at the deadly hole. "I think I see another reason how people could disappear here..." He said grimly. "I've seen quite a few pits on the way here, but nothing like this!" He said as he sheathed his machete to get a better grip of his camera, he did _not_ want to drop it.

He made sure to get everything he could on his camera. "Well, I am both disappointed and happy that-" He shut up when he heard a twig snap from the other side of the cave. He went absolutely still and silent as he waited for something come into the cave from the other side, and eventually something did.

"W-what?" He asked hesitantly as he saw what looked like… a little kid? "How did a kid get up here?" The kid walked forward, looking around in confusion and curiosity. "H-hey! Kid!" The child's eyes widened as they looked towards him. Unfortunately the kid had not stopped walking when they looked to him and that distraction led to them tripping and falling… right into the pit.

His heart jumped up as he saw this. " _AH_!" He didn't even think, he just pushed off the edge of the pit as hard as he could and dove after the little… girl? He caught her mid-air and spun around so he would hit the ground first. He had just enough time to think 'If I die, let it be instant and painless' before they hit the ground.

There was definitely pain, and that pain made him afraid to move. He would rather not know if anything was broken. The problem that he wished he didn't realize was while he was lying on his back in pain, he had this kid in a death grip and they probably wanted to be released from it. He prepared for pain before releasing the child, letting them roll onto the ground next to him.

He opened his eyes in surprise as the pain in his back seemed to go away. He stared straight up at the pit they had fallen down and thought 'How am I not dead? Shouldn't I be dead? Did people overreact about the height you could fall before you die? Why is the pain going away already?' He noticed his pain was already almost gone so he rolled over and stood up slowly. 'We fell on sunflowers? Did that really break our fall? There's no way… right?' "U-um… are you okay?" He said hesitantly, looking at the child.

"Y-yeah…I think so." The child answered hesitantly as they stood up and rubbed their head through their long brown hair.

'Definitely a girl.' He thought the moment he heard her voice. 'I should probably go, this kid isn't going to want to be near a stranger.' He thought before turning to walk away down a path he just saw.

He felt the child run into his back and hug him. "Thank you for saving me, mister!" The girl said, sounding scared.

'You idiot. The kid has no one else to go to.' He mentally berated himself before turning around, getting down on one knee and putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I'm glad you're okay. Why were you up here on this mountain? It's dangerous here." He asked her.

The girl put her hands up to hide her face and she shook her head. "I-I don't want to talk about it."

'Damn it, quit being cute.' "That's okay, that's fine." He said softly. "Hey uh… what's your name?"

The girl hesitantly removed her hands and looked at him with her golden eyes. "F-Frisk." She answered hesitantly.

"Well hello, Frisk. My name is Anthony, but I would like if you would just call me AJ." He said, trying to ignore her cuteness.

Her eyes widened and she gained a wide smile. "I know a kid named AJ at school!" She said happily.

He chuckled. "Oh you do? That's cool." He said with a smile.

"Yeah! But he had blond hair, and I think his eyes were blue." Frisk said, clearly thinking hard to remember if she was right or not.

"Is he your friend or just someone you know?" AJ asked.

"No I just know him." Frisk answered.

"Cool. Well, Frisk, we should probably try to get out of here." He said before looking up. "I don't think we can climb back out though…"

"What's this?" Frisk asked.

He turned his head to where he heard the sweater-wearing girl's voice. "Ah man! That's my camera!" He realized as he looked at the broken pieces she was standing near. 'I survive the fall but it doesn't!? What the heck is going on!? It couldn't be that I landed on the flowers, it couldn't be!' "Great, now I actually need to come back in order to tell people what's out here. Oh well. I guess we have to go… this way?" He suggested, taking a step towards the path ahead of them.

The girl nodded and started to run ahead of him.

"Hey! Frisk, wait!" He called out. She turned around and walked back towards him with a curious expression. "It could be dangerous up ahead, stay next to me, okay?" He requested gently. The girl nodded before walking alongside him. 'What are these pillars? They look like ruins of some-' His own thoughts were interrupted when Frisk grabbed his hand and held onto it tightly for security. He blushed lightly in embarrassment as he had never had to deal with this before, but he knew the kid had to be a bit scared, so he powered through it and didn't make her let go.

* * *

They stepped into another opening, and there they found a flower… with a smiling face.

"Hey there! I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower!" The flower greeted with a cheery tone.

Frisk let out a gasp of awe and went to walk towards the flower, but AJ jerked her hand back.

"What?" Frisk asked, confused.

"I don't think we should trust this thing." He explained, eyeing the flower warily.

"But it's so cute, and it's smiling!" Frisk said happily.

"Just stay behind me till I say it's safe, okay?" He requested.

Frisk nodded and now stood behind him while watching the flower closely.

"You two are new to the Underground, aren't cha?" Flowey asked, still smiling widely. "Boy, you must be so confused! Someone ought to show you how things work around here!" Saying this caused AJ to move his hand ever so slightly towards his machete, which is something Flowey noticed. "I guess little old me will just have to do! Ready!?" He suddenly gained a slightly ominous tone. "Here we go…"

Suddenly small red hearts appeared, floating just over the humans' chests.

"Lesson Number 1: You see those hearts?" Flowey asked. "Those hearts are your souls, the very culmination of your beings!" He/it explained. "Your soul will start off weak down here, but it can go strong if you gain a lot of LOVE! You want some LOVE," His expression darkened and he grew a menacing smile. " _don't cha_?"

Now feeling it in his gut that this thing wasn't as friendly as it had first looked, AJ took a few steps forward and pulled out his machete. "Stay far back, Frisk." He ordered.

Flowey eyed the blade with a menacing look of wonder in his eyes. "Ooh! That's sharp! You should be careful with that thing! **You might hurt someone**." It said, its eyes turning black, gaining a menacing smile filled with sharp teeth. "I bet you cut a lot of vines with that thing!" Suddenly two large, spiked vines poked out of the ground, swirling around the flower and growing longer by the second. " **It's only fair that the vines get to cut you BACK!** "

The vines suddenly shot out at him at high speeds, forcing him to dodge. He jumped high into the air and back flipped once before landing lightly on his feet. He looked back up at the vines in shock. "Since when could I do that?" He asked simply before the vines attacked him again. His body almost acted on its own as he jumped to the right while attacking the right vine simultaneously, his blade cutting right through it. The left vine had turned quickly though and one of the spikes on it cut his shoulder as he just barely avoided a direct hit. The heart floating over his chest gained a small, barely noticeable crack in it.

"Lesson Number 2!" Flowey started cheerfully as the one remaining vine moved back over to his side, preparing for another attack. "In this world, **It's kill, or BE KILLED!** " He shouted demonically before the vine shot out at AJ again.

'Forget birds, my new arch enemies are apparently vines!' The boy jumped high over the vine again, but he looked down as he flew over and saw the vine was going for the girl. "Frisk! Jump!" He shouted. The girl did as he said and jumped high into the air, landing away from danger. The vine came up at him while he was still stuck in the air. He raised his blade to counter the sharp end of the vine, but it hit him so hard that it knocked him into the ground.

"AJ!" Frisk cried out before running to his side. "Are you okay!?"

"It's okay, little girl!" Flowey said cheerfully as the vine retreated to his side again. "You haven't been a bad human, so I'll give you a reward! I'll give you these… 'friendliness pellets'!" Suddenly a group of massive, spinning white seeds appeared and flew at them. AJ forced himself up and deflected the first one, but the second one knocked him away and the third hit Frisk.

He looked down at his Soul in fear. It looked like it was about to shatter at any moment. He looked up from the ground and saw two massive vines and a plethora of pellets all about to attack them. He tried to get up, but before he could, Frisk jumped in front of him, shaking as she held the machete in her hands.

"Leave us alone!" Frisk shouted.

"F-Frisk… wait…" AJ said weakly.

Flowey looked shocked for a moment, then he smirked, then he just started laughing. "Are you kidding me!? Leave you alone!? Why would anyone pass up an opportunity like this!? **DIE!** " Just before he attacked, he hesitated as he saw a light to his left, he turned only to be hit in the face with a fireball that sent him flying away and out of sight, the vines and pellets vanishing.

Wasting no time, Frisk dropped the weapon before turning around to her new friend. She took a bandage out of the pocket of her shorts and quickly put it on the cut on his cheek.

"Frisk… are you okay?" He asked weakly.

"Be quiet! You're more hurt than I am!" Frisk demanded as she pulled out another bandage.

"F-Frisk, stop." He said as he gripped her arm and stopped her. "I need more than a bandage… you're the one that isn't hurt that badly, you should be getting Band-Aids right now." His soul looked like it was about to shatter, while hers was only lightly cracked. Ignoring that though, his wounds were deeper, or not cuts at all, she was the one with small cuts on her.

She pouted before taking the bandage and putting in on the cut on her cheek, then taking another and putting it on a cut on her leg. "There! Now let me put more Band-Aids on you!"

'Huh. I come here with nothing and this girl is actually smart enough to bring a bunch of Band-Aids, not that they will do much.' AJ saw movement and looked over Frisk's shoulder while she got out another Band-Aid.

"What a miserable creature!" The thing said angrily with a woman's voice. "Are you two okay?"

He quickly hugged Frisk close with one arm and picked up the machete and pointed it straight at the stranger with his other. "Stay away." He ordered with a strong glare.

"I know you are afraid right now. Please, I just want to help you." The person said.

Frisk turned her head slightly so she could see who was talking to them. She let out a gasp before whispering "Goat lady."

"I do not want to hurt you." The goat woman said gently. "I know healing magic, I can heal you both if you would let me."

AJ stared at her for a few more seconds before lowering his blade. "Fine. If you do anything other than heal us, I will… I will use this." He threatened, pointing at her for a moment with his weapon.

"No, don't hurt her." Frisk said quietly.

"We don't know who we can trust here, Frisk." He argued, and she looked at him sadly. "If she doesn't do anything bad, I won't have to hurt her." He said, hoping to calm her down.

"Alright, I'm coming over now." The woman said as she approached. "My name is Toriel, I am the caretaker of these ruins. What are your names?" She asked cautiously as she approached.

"Frisk!" Frisk answered happily. "And this is AJ!" She said, pointing to her friend.

Toriel finally reached them and slowly crouched next to them. "Alright… I am going to use my healing magic now." She warned. "Try to relax and not move around too much." The boy held onto Frisk tightly as the goat person used her magic on Frisk. He noticed her Soul lost the cracks it had, and her wounds disappeared, so he hoped that this Toriel really was helping them. "Okay, now I'm going to use my magic on you." He gripped his weapon tightly as her furry hands glowed a light green. He felt all the pain leave his body and he saw the cracks in his Soul disappear.

"Thank you." He said hesitantly and nodded.

Toriel smiled and nodded back before taking a step back as the two humans stood up. "I am glad you two are alright. I have been coming here every day to see if anyone had fallen down. You two are the first humans to here in a long time. If you are willing, follow me! I will guide you through the catacombs ahead." Her voice was very friendly and loving, and unlike that flower, she actually felt trustworthy.

"Can we go with her?" Frisk asked.

He could tell she wanted to go, too innocent and trusting for her own good. "Well, we have nowhere else to go, so… sure." He answered, and she smiled happily before grabbing his hand and running to follow Toriel. 'Well, here's the magic stuff that you can't explain that I asked for.' He thought as they followed Toriel into the ruins of some ancient place.

* * *

 **Huh, weird, I'm actually satisfied with this chapter for some reason. I usually am not this comfortable with a chapter that I've written. Just gonna hope that's a good thing…**

 **Anyway! It has begun! Hope you all enjoyed! If you did, don't forget to follow and/or fav. If you do leave a review, be gentle, will ya? I has sensitive soul. (Or maybe a SANSitive soul! Eh? Eh?)**

 **I have other projects going on, but I am currently interested in writing the next chapter of this, so you might see that one sooner rather than later.**

 **In case you don't see me for awhile, have a great week everyone!**


	2. Bonding In The Ruins

**Wow, I got more follows and favs than I expected from just one chapter. (I didn't know what to expect from this fandom.) I'll try not to disappoint you all too much going forward! XD**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Protectortale Ch.2

* * *

Frisk stood under the shadow of the ruins and stared up in wonder. Toriel had gone up the stairs and was waiting for them.

"Determination!" Frisk suddenly shouted excitedly, making AJ jump slightly as he had been focused on the entrance to the ruins. He looked at her oddly, but felt that asking her why she shouted that would get him nothing, so he didn't ask.

They finally walked up the steps and entered the ruins. The boy was looking up and around with curiosity and awe, wondering who could have built an ancient city this far underground.

Frisk just wanted to follow Toriel.

Said goat woman turned around in front of them once they had walked far enough into the room. "Welcome to your new home!" Toriel said with a friendly smile. AJ opened his mouth to speak but closed it as she continued. "Allow me to educate you in the operation of the ruins." She said before walking over to a few buttons on the floor.

She stepped on four of them, purposely walking around two of them, before flicking the switch on the wall next to the door that was opposite the entrance, causing the door to open.

"Cool!" Frisk commented.

Toriel smiled. "The ruins are full of puzzles, ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys. One must solve them to move from room to room."

"That seems unnecessary, and complicated, or maybe just unnecessarily complicated." The older human commented.

"I suppose it is, but that is just how things work here in the Underground." Toriel responded before walking to the next room.

"I think we can handle whatever puzzles are in here." AJ said, looking to Frisk, who nodded in agreement before they both entered the next room.

The next room took a right turn and had a few bridges over shallow waterways, likely where the sewage went through.

"To make progress in this room, you will need to trigger several switches." Toriel started. "I labeled them in case you could not figure out which to trigger, but you two will probably not need any help." She commented.

"Nope! I can probably solve most of the puzzles. And for the ones I can't solve, Frisk will probably have some crazy idea that will somehow work." AJ said. Frisk giggled.

As they all walked down the long room, they noticed the floor had a slightly different color to parts of it, making the lighter color look like a path. AJ noticed a sign on the wall that said "Stay on the path" when they walked in. 'Well this one is easy.' He thought, flicking the first switch they came across along the branching path. The path branched a second time, and this time there were two switches, but only one was at the end of the branching path. 'Yeah, I could have done that even without the obvious yellow arrows painted on the wall.'

Hitting those two switches caused the spikes Toriel was standing next to to retract into the floor. "Excellent!" Toriel praised before walking on. He didn't trust this and picked up Frisk and lifted her over where the spikes were before jumping over them himself.

"It's okay, AJ! The puzzles wouldn't be unfair like that." Frisk said, seemingly sure of what she was saying as they walked into the next room.

"Yeah well we don't know that." He argued.

* * *

The next room made a left turn, and there was a dummy in the corner.

"As humans living in the Underground, monsters may attack you." Toriel said.

"We know that much already." AJ mumbled, and Frisk nodded in agreement with a sad look.

"If they do attack you, you will have to fight them." Toriel continued. "You will need to know what to do in this situation."

The boy nodded in understanding. "Ah. You want Frisk to practice fighting against the dummy."

Toriel nodded with a smile. "Yes. Frisk, please practice on the dummy."

Frisk looked up at AJ and he nodded, letting go of her hand. She ran up to the dummy and stood before it. It was about her height.

"When you fight a monster, strike up a friendly conversation." Toriel said.

"Wait what?" AJ asked, looking at Toriel in confusion.

"Stall for time as long as you can. I will come to resolve the conflict." Toriel continued, then turned to the older human as he stepped up towards her with an annoyed look.

"What!? If the other monsters are anything like that flower, we can't just talk to them! She needs to know how to _actually_ defend herself!" He argued.

Toriel glared back at him. "I will not let you two kill anyone!" She pointed at the sheathe on his hip. "You may know how to defend yourself but that is not the way things will work down here as long as I am around!"

He gave her a 'you have got to be kidding me' look before getting in her face and putting his hands on his hips. "How do I know you're not doing this on purpose to try and get us killed down here!?"

She was not at all threatened by the fact that the 6'2" boy stood over her by a few inches. "I have dealt with troublesome children before young man and do not think that I don't know how to deal with you too!"

"Stop fighting you two!" Frisk shouted, making them both turn towards her. "Look, just talk to the dummy, please!?" She requested.

"What!?" He asked, outraged.

""Just talk to the dummy!"" The two women shouted.

He glared at both of them before growling out "Fine…" and walking over to the dummy. "Hi there, dummy. How are you doing today?" He asked with poorly hidden hostility.

He was not surprised to find that the dummy wasn't much for conversation.

"Excellent. We don't want to hurt anyone down here after all." Toriel praised before walking into the next room. Frisk took the boy's hand again before they followed.

"Thank you for talking to the dummy." Frisk thanked with a happy grin.

He rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Yeah… whatever…" He mumbled in annoyance with slightly puffed out cheeks since he couldn't think of any good excuses for complying with them.

In the next room they went right and found the light path seemed to wind through the room for no real reason.

"There is another puzzle in this room as well. I wonder if you two can solve it." Toriel commented before walking into a hallway.

"It doesn't look like there's anything in this part of the room…" AJ said slowly as the two humans looked around.

"I don't see anything either. Maybe there's something through the hall!" Frisk wondered before running on ahead.

"F-Frisk! Come on! You're supposed to h-hold my hand!" He said with a light blush as he forced himself to say that and ran after her.

*Ribbit ribbit* A small monster greatly resembling a frog jumped out in front of them. Its tongue shot out at them repeatedly, forcing them to hop, skip, jump, and roll around to avoid getting hit.

"Whoa!" Frisk exclaimed as she dodged.

AJ wanted to try and attack it, as dangerous as that was, but he could see Toriel giving him a threatening look from behind the frog. "Whoa! Hey! Frog! Can't we talk this out!?" He asked as he rolled and jumped.

Toriel smiled and took a few steps closer.

The frog was able to shoot its tongue out quite fast, so fast that it was able to keep them both on defense.

"Y-you look nice today, Froggit!" Frisk managed to say as she cartwheeled around.

They both stopped as they noticed it stopped attacking. They looked to see it was blushing.

"Huh!?" AJ exclaimed in shock.

Toriel approached behind the frog with a menacing look. The frog saw this and shuffled away.

"You both did great! No one was hurt!" Toriel praised happily. "Let's continue through the hall."

The two humans took a moment to catch their breath, though they found that their tiredness went away in seconds.

"How did you know that would work?" The boy asked.

"I didn't know, I just did what Toriel asked us to do." Frisk answered. "And it looked like it was working anyway!" She said cheerfully, before turning to walk away. "Oh! Right!" She remembered before turning around and taking his hand.

He looked down and saw her smiling at him. 'Huh. She cares enough to remember what I said.' "T-Thank you." He said before they walked on through the slightly winding hallway. His eyes widened as a random idea popped into his head.

'She tried to protect me from that flower, she was clearly worried about me when I was hurt, and it almost seems like she's staying near me because I feel better knowing she's safer with me… It's like she cares about me. We only just met! Why would she care so much about my well-being, physically and mentally, when we've barely met!? Is she just stupid? No, wait! How does a kid even know to think about someone's mental state!?'

There was a sign on the wall in the hall that said "The western room is the eastern room's blueprint."

"Oh! So that's why the path in the other room was winding!" AJ realized. "Do you get it, Frisk?"

She hummed in thought as she stared at the sign before looking back in the direction of the last room. "Oh! I get it!" She exclaimed.

"Good." He said with a nod before they continued on. 'I'm starting to think she's not stupid.'

The next room was end-to-end water, but luckily there was a wide bridge that would allow them to cross.

Except that bridge was covered in spikes.

"This is the puzzle, but…" Toriel said, though she seemed hesitant. "H-here, take my hand for a moment." She requested.

Frisk looked back at AJ hesitantly, and she saw he seemed a bit hesitant as well. She had an idea and used her free hand to grasp Toriel's large fluffy one, creating a linked chain out of the three. She closed her eyes for a moment and smiled happily. Toriel walked right up to the spikes, but they sunk away before they could be stepped on. She made seemingly random turns through the wall of spikes, making it clear, at least to AJ, that only some of the spikes would retract, and you had to walk along the right path to not get hurt. Eventually they reached the end of the spikes and Toriel let Frisk go.

"Puzzles seem a little bit too dangerous for now." Toriel commented before motioning Frisk on ahead to the next room. She turned and looked at the boy with an apologetic look. "I… I am sorry for getting so angry with you just a bit ago."

He looked surprised for a moment. "Don't you think it's a _little_ bit too early for us to be apologizing?"

Toriel looked confused. "No… On the contrary, I think we should apologize as soon as possible!" She said cheerily before turning apologetic again. "I just… I just want to protect everyone, human or monster. I don't want anyone to get hurt, I don't want anyone to die. I know you are suspicious of me and I understand that it may seem that I am trying to get you or Frisk hurt, but that is not the case. I truly wish for everyone's safety."

He hesitantly let out a long sigh. "I'm… sorry for assuming you were trying to get us hurt, and… I'm sorry for getting angry with you as well. Right now I just... don't want this girl to get hurt. She's so innocent, she seems to think she can talk her way out of conflicts now, or maybe she always did, but… you know that isn't how it works, right?" He could tell Toriel agreed with him and just didn't want to admit it. "You hit that flower with a magic fireball! You know how to fight, and you know when you need to fight. You know you can't talk your way out of everything."

"I wish that was possible, but you are right, you cannot talk your way out of everything. I just hope you both never have to hurt anyone…" She said sadly, holding back a tear. "I am glad we could apologize to each other. I hope you will trust me more from now on. Let us continue." She said before going into the next room, with the older human following.

* * *

The next room was an incredibly long hall.

"You two have done excellently thus far, I am proud of you both." Toriel praised.

'Alright the coddling is getting a bit excessive now.' AJ thought.

They walked all the way down the incredibly long hall and passed a random pillar before reaching the door to the next room.

Toriel stopped and turned around to face them. "Would you two mind staying here for awhile?" She asked in her usual polite tone.

"May I ask why we need to stay here?" AJ asked curiously.

"I have some business I must attend to. The areas ahead are very dangerous without my guidance, and while I am sure the two of you working together could make it through, I would rather be safe than sorry. No monsters or humans will get hurt if you simply wait here till I come back, so please be patient, okay?"

Frisk nodded. "Okay."

"Alright, I can do that." AJ said with a nod as well.

"Oh! I have an idea! I will give you a cell phone!" Toriel decided before handing the phone to the boy.

"Phones work down here?" He asked, skeptical.

"Of course!" Toriel answered, like it was obvious.

The older human looked over the phone. It was very old, nothing like the smartphones he was used to. He wasn't interested. "Here, you can hold on to it." He said, hiding his disinterest from Toriel, and handed the old phone to Frisk, who seemed much more interested in it.

"If either of you need anything, just call me." Toriel stated.

"Bye!" Frisk said cheerfully as she waved goodbye.

AJ sat down with his back against the pillar. "I _would_ like to rest for a bit." He decided. He looked over and saw Frisk had sat down in the middle of the room and started messing with the phone with a content grin on her face.

"Hello?" Toriel's voice came through the phone.

"Goat Mom!" Frisk said cheerfully.

"W-What!? D-Did you just call me 'mom'!?" Toriel asked, surprised. "W-Well… okay! If that will make you happy!" She said before hanging up.

"Do you have anything you want to ask her?" Frisk asked the other human, clearly ready to call again.

He shook his head. "No thanks. Um, actually, can I talk with you for a minute?"

"Okay!" Frisk answered with a nod before walking closer and sitting down in front of him cross-legged.

"Did you notice that Toriel called this place our new home without even asking us if we wanted it to be our home first?" He asked her.

She looked down sadly. "Yeah…"

'Huh. She's much sharper than I thought.' "Do you want this to be your new home?" He asked her.

She looked to the side, looking uncomfortable. "I-I don't know… she's really nice, and she's like a mom! But… I don't know if I want to stay down here."

"That's okay, Frisk. You shouldn't feel forced to stay here. You should only stay somewhere if you want to stay there." He said gently. "I don't really want to be here either…" He added. "Frisk…" He started hesitantly. "Do you… have a home to go to? On the surface?"

She very hesitantly nodded, not looking up at him.

"Do you want to go home?" He asked.

She shook her head.

His eyes widened in shock and sadness took over his whole expression. "Oh… Frisk…" He wrapped her up in a hug. "I'm so sorry… I didn't even know someone so young could feel that way."

"AJ… can I just stay wherever you live?" She asked innocently with a hopeful smile.

He just looked at her sadly. "Frisk… I came to this mountain for pretty much the same reason you did…" She realized what he meant and looked down sadly. "Life hasn't been all that good to us…"

"But, but I just want to find a better home." She said. "Maybe not this one, but… can't we find a home that we could both stay in?" She asked.

"Frisk… we both came here because life hasn't been good to us, but… that's where the similarities end… I didn't come here looking for a new home. I came here… hoping I wouldn't survive the trip." He said hesitantly. "Don't get me wrong… I do like you. I already like you more than any other person I've had to put up with, but… it would be better if you didn't stay with me once we get back to the surface. I'm not interested in a new home. If you stayed with me, I would just end up leaving you and breaking your heart. I don't want to hurt someone as innocent as you."

Frisk tilted her head slightly in confusion. "Why do you like me?" She asked. "You barely know me."

He ruffled her hair, making her giggle. "Because you are _adorable_. And… you also haven't annoyed me yet. Every person, every human that I've ever met made it clear to me that they were a jerk right away. Saying something rude, making fun of me, saying something _stupid_. I don't expect you to be perfect or anything, but you've already done what no one else has done, and that's 'not make me hate you within ten seconds'."

When he thought about it, the kid's voice wasn't even annoying. Normally all kids' voices are just the right pitch to be annoying, but hers isn't. It's softer, almost soothing. It's still clearly a little girl's voice, but… she could probably be a singer if she wanted to.

"Hey, wait… why do _you_ like me already? You want to stay with me now, why?" He asked.

Frisk looked down in slight embarrassment. "No one has ever protected me like you have." She pressed her fingers together shyly and hesitantly continued. "M-My mom and dad… they always let me get hurt, or hurt me. Most of the kids at school were really mean to me too, and the few that weren't wouldn't let me come live with them."

"I'm sorry that happened to you." AJ said sadly.

Frisk powered through her reluctance and continued. "There was one girl that I asked if I could live with, and she said her parents couldn't afford to take care of another kid. But… then she told me 'If you don't like where you live right now, you should run away.' I had never thought of just leaving before, but I told her that no one at school would take me in if I did that. So… she said 'Then just run out of the city, just run as far away as you can. Home is where your friends are, so just run far away and find some new friends that you can live with.'

You protected me even though you only just met me. You caught me while I was falling, you fought Flowey, and I get why you got mad at Toriel… you were just trying to protect me. You've just been protecting me this whole time already, and I can feel that you're going to keep doing it. I want my home to be with someone like you, someone who protects me!" She said with a smile.

He looked down and away from her. 'Damn it! I already hate leaving my parents, but now this little girl went and decided I'm her favorite person! Ugh… now I'm not sure I can do it…'

Frisk smiled as she had an idea. "You aren't gonna leave me! Once we find a nice home, you won't want to leave! And then you won't have to feel bad about leaving, because you just won't leave!" She said happily, certain her plan could not fail.

"Frisk…" He started hesitantly. "It's not about finding a new home for me. It's not something that can be fixed at all."

Frisk stood up tall. "Nonsense!" She said dramatically. "We'll find a home and then we'll both be happy!" She said confidently and puffed out her cheeks while striking a dramatic pose.

He stared at her pose for a second. "Pfft! You dork." He said with a chuckle. She giggled along with him before sitting back down. They relaxed for a few minutes.

Now he had a lot to think about. He had to take care of this girl, he had already decided that when they fell. He was going to get his girl out of the "Undergound" as Toriel was calling it. But he would have preferred if he could leave the girl after this, probably leave all together.

He thought about the different ways he could be stuck with her. A foster home, his parent's house, the home of a friend. No matter what, if he got stuck with her, she would only get more attached to him, and he could never leave her then. He would _have_ to live, he couldn't break her heart like that, especially if he was her only friend. He didn't like it, but he might be stuck with this girl for a long time.

One thing he knew for sure was that he would need to think about this kid differently, they had been through some hardship, and they clearly weren't some dumb kid. It was weird though, she doesn't seem to have been hardened by what she's been through. The only change he can tell that it caused on her was it made her treat anyone who protects her as someone precious.

He didn't really know how to feel about that or react to that. He's never been precious to someone before.

No longer wanting to think about that right now, he started looking around the room from where he was sitting. He soon ran out of things that interested him in the room and his eyes trailed down to the heart floating over his chest. He cupped his hands together and cradled the heart close to him. He closed his eyes and focused on the feeling of his own Soul. He frowned as he felt the pain and sadness in his Soul, but then he gained a pleasant smile as the overall feeling of holding his own Soul comforted him. He held it very close to him and nearly fell asleep when he heard and felt Frisk walking away from him.

The girl poked her head through the doorway and looked into the next room.

"You're not going to stay in here, are you?" He asked with a knowing smirk.

She jumped before turning around. "I-I wanna go looking around." She hesitantly admitted, kicking the dirt shyly.

'OMG STOP BLUSHING IT'S TOO CUTE!' Never before has AJ felt an impulsive need to hug someone or something, and because of that he did not hesitate to act on that urge. "I will never let any monster down here hurt you!" He said with a (totally manly, I swear) squeal. "Until we get back to the surface I promise to protect the sweet and innocent cinnamon roll!" He said to no one in particular before finally letting go of the poor girl. "Alright, we can go looking around since I'm here to take care of you."

"Woohoo!" Frisk cheered before taking his hand and pretty much dragging him into the next room.

The next room made multiple turns, and even branched off into another room if they went left. Before they could do anything though, a frog tongue shot out and hit AJ right in the face.

"Ow!" He looked at the frog in front of him and growled at it before pulling out his machete.

"Wait!" Frisk shouted before the phone in her pocket started ringing. "H-Hello?" She answered hesitantly.

"Hello there, Frisk! I hope you have not left the room I left you two in." Toriel said. Frisk hesitated and looked at the older human.

AJ charged the frog and jumped right at it, intending to stab it with his weapon. Instead it jumped over the attack, causing him to dive right onto the floor and slide to a stop. The frog landed on his head before hopping off of him.

"W-We're fine, Mama! We haven't left the room at all! We-"

"Frisk, look out!" AJ shouted, cutting her off.

"AAAH!" Frisk let out a girlish squeal and began comically running around the Froggit in circles in order to avoid getting hit.

"Oh! I cannot tell if that was a squeal of fear, or if you and AJ are simply playing a game." Toriel said quite calmly. "Are you okay?"

Frisk let out a fake laugh as she jumped over another tongue attack. "Y-Yeah! We're playing a fun game! AAAH!"

"Ah, I see. My mistake! I'll hang up and let you have your fun." Toriel said politely before hanging up.

Another frog came out and started attacking the older human, making the whole scene nothing more than comical chaos as both humans jumped, flailed, and shouted.

* * *

 **Yes, I'd say that's the perfect place to end this chapter, we needed to end it with something a bit more humerus after all the depressing stuff. #MakingBonePunsWhenNoSkeletonsWereEvenInvolved**

 **I should probably focus a bit more on my other projects, so this might not get updated as quickly from now on. I'll try not to take like three weeks or something though.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed! If you did, don't forget to follow or fav.**

 **Have a great week everyone!**


	3. Cinnamon Or Butterscotch?

**I am gonna work as fast as I freaking can to get this chapter done. Why? Because I want to have it done in time to post it** _ **hopefully**_ **on my birthday. If you're reading this when it was just posted…**

 **Happy birthday to me! Here's your present! BECAUSE LOGIC**

 **Hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.3

* * *

AJ quickly grew frustrated with being pinned down by the frog. He jumped to the side to dodge another attack, but this time he grabbed the frog's tongue and gripped it tightly. He pulled hard and swung the frog around him before letting go with a shout and throwing the frog into its friend, with both of them flying into the wall.

"And don't ever mess with us again!" He shouted threateningly. Both frogs looked up at him in fear before fleeing the area. "I like that! We aren't hurt, badly, and I didn't have to kill the monsters either!" He said with a smile.

"I guess…" Frisk said hesitantly. "I wish they didn't have to get hurt though."

"The monsters don't care about hurting us, you know." He pointed out.

"Yeah, you're right. As long as everyone lives in the end, I'll be happy." Frisk said with a smile before walking down the path. She quickly became sidetracked by a pile of red leaves. She jumped into the pile and disappeared, the leaves rustling as she rolled around in them. "Determination!" She shouted and giggled.

'Well she's having fun.' He thought and smiled. He could only hope that they would find ways to keep having fun until they got back to the surface.

He walked over to the room they would have gone in if they had taken a left turn. It was a dead end, but there was a stand with a bowl of candy on it. He could still see Frisk from through the doorway, thankfully. He walked around the bowl so he could look over it and keep an eye on Frisk while he took some candy from the bowl. The bowl fell over and all the candy he hadn't taken shattered on contact with the ground. "Oops." He couldn't care less for broken shards of sugar covered treats on the dirty floor, so he left the room.

"Hey, Frisk." Frisk stopped playing and looked up at him. "Do you like candy?" He asked.

Stars appeared in her eyes as she saw the items in his hand. "Yes!" She said immediately.

He chuckled. "Well here you go then." He said before holding out his hand which held three pieces of candy which she took in an instant. "Hey don't eat them all at once or you might get sick." He said quickly.

She stopped just as she was about to unwrap one of them. "Okay." She said hesitantly. "I'll save them for later." She put them in her pocket.

"Hey, what did you call that frog thing again?" He asked her as he crouched down to her level since she was sitting down in the leaves.

"Huh?" She asked, confused, and tilted her head slightly. "Oh! Froggit!" She remembered.

"Yeah… why did you call it that?" He asked, confused and curious.

"Um… I'm giving a name for every monster we meet!" She answered with a cheery smile he was starting to associate with her. She just had this carefree happiness that existed whenever she was happy, and even if she wasn't happy, it was so easy for her to go back to being happy. He hated optimists, but he couldn't hate this kid, it was too late for that. Besides, she was too adorable.

"What if that monster has a name already?" He asked just to see her reaction.

She seemed to think about it for a second. "Hm… Well, if they have a name, then they can just say their real name." She decided.

He chuckled lightly. "Fair enough." He said before standing up and starting to walk on. "It's your choice to be rude."

"I am not being rude." She argued with puffed out cheeks. She noticed a branch in the leaves and she picked it up before following him. "Now I have a weapon, just like you!" She said proudly.

He turned around and saw her holding a stick and gave her a deadpan stare. 'There is literally no way that will work, don't kid yourself, kid.' He took the branch, put it over his leg, and chopped it with his machete. It bounced off. He stared at the branch with wide eyes. "Whoa! That thing is tough!"

"Uh huh! Only the toughest stick will do for me!" Frisk said as if she had chosen this branch over a different one.

He rolled his eyes and held back a smirk at her behavior. "It's still a stick."

They got to the end of the room and went to take the door to their left when a small winged monster flew out of the room and stopped just in front of them. Both parties froze for a second before the older human reached for his weapon in case he needed to use it. The monster let out a shout of fear before going past them, crying as it flew away. Both humans blinked twice before looking at each other, highly confused and also unsure that that just happened. Having no other choice but to continue, they moved on to the next room, which was simply a straight hall with a row of red leaves in the middle of it.

The walk down the hall was peaceful until the floor broke below the leaves and the boy fell. He landed on his side roughly, and was finding it really weird that that barely hurt and that the pain was already gone.

"Are you okay!?" Frisk shouted down the hole, concerned.

He stood up easily and looked up at her, slightly confused. "Yeah."

"D-Do I need to jump down?" She asked, looking around for something to help her friend up. Suddenly AJ climbed out of a hole in the wall nearby and rolled back into the hall.

"Nope! There was a spot for me climb back up." He answered as he stood up and dusted himself off. She took his hand and they continued out of the hall.

"Hey, for the next monster we fight, can you try saying something nice to it?" Frisk asked.

"Ugh. Why?" He groaned. "You agree with me that we can't always be perfectly peaceful. Sometimes we have to fight, Frisk." She opened her mouth to argue. "Look, I'm trying not to kill anyone, since you and Toriel don't want that, but I don't want to get hurt trying to be nice. I've had that happen to me enough." He said depressingly.

"I know but you need to learn how to be nice!" She argued.

"I know how to be nice." He countered and crossed his arms.

"Then do it! The next monster we fight, you have to be nice to!" She challenged him.

His brow rose in amusement. "You aren't going to get me to do something to maintain my pride." He went to walk forward and a frog jumped in front of them. "But I _will_ take care of this one as peacefully as possible since it decided to have such convenient timing." It's tongue shot out and hit him in the chest. "Ah! Nevermind!" He pulled out his machete and rushed his opponent.

The fight ended with him covered in bruises.

"You see this, Frisk?" He asked, pointing at himself with an angry frown. "This is what happens when I do things the nice way. It actually cracked my soul! It actually was really hurting me!"

"All you had to say was 'you look nice today'." She pointed out as she searched her pockets while he sat down to rest a moment.

"I did!" He pointed out.

"You kicked it in the face after that!"

"It kept attacking me!"

"You didn't say it sincerely enough!"

"Whatever! I'm done doing things the nice way…" He grumbled out and looked away from her at the rest of the room.

There was a wall of spikes in the way again. The only other things in the room were a rock, a plate on the floor, and a sign on the wall.

Frisk let out a sad sigh. "You shouldn't give up so fast… Here."

"Why are you giving me candy?" He asked, confused.

"It'll make you feel better!" She answered and smiled encouragingly.

He noticed a similarity and chuckled, despite the pain. "Frisk, this isn't a video game." She didn't waver. "I don't even like candy."

"Just take it!" She insisted.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. If it'll make you happy." He grumbled quietly so that she didn't hear. He unwrapped the candy and chewed it quickly. It wasn't licorice, but it wasn't that bad. His eyes widened in shock as he felt the pain go away. He looked at her and she just giggled at the look on his face. He even looked down at his Soul and saw the small crack the 'Froggit' had created was gone. "Holy-"

He was cut off by the phone in Frisk's pocket ringing. She put it on speaker and answered. "Hello?"

"Hello. This is Toriel." Toriel said.

"Who else would it be?" AJ mouthed out, making Frisk chuckle a bit.

"Are you two doing well?" Toriel asked.

Seeing as he has now come to the conclusion that they have video game powers… "Yep!" The boy answered.

"Mhm!" Frisk hummed.

"Good! I am glad!" Toriel said happily. "Um… for no reason in particular… which do you two prefer? Cinnamon, or butterscotch?" She asked.

"Butterscotch!" Frisk answered immediately.

"Well I've never had butterscotch, but I've had cinnamon, so… cinnamon." AJ answered.

"Ah, I see. Thank you very much." Toriel said politely before hanging up.

"Uhhhh…" Frisk looked at him with a confused but thoughtful look.

"Is she…?" His look was more thoughtful, but they both had the same thought.

The phone rang again.

"Hello? This is Toriel. You do not _dislike_ cinnamon, do you, Frisk?" Toriel asked.

"Um… no." Frisk answered. "Cinnamon is ok."

"Good!" Toriel responded. "And AJ, would you be willing to try something new, such as butterscotch, if it was on your plate?"

It would have been so easy to say no, like he wanted to, but if Toriel was making something for them, he would have no choice but to put up with it and try whatever she makes. Who knows, maybe he'll even like it? "If I had to, I would try butterscotch, sure." He answered.

"Wonderful! Thank you for being patient, both of you." Toriel thanked before she hung up again.

The two humans looked at each other.

"She is so making something for us." He said as if it was fact, which it might as well be.

"I know! I'm so excited!" Frisk squealed. She jumped to a standing position to try and figure out how to get past the spikes. She wanted to see what Toriel was doing as soon as possible.

AJ stood up as well and looked at the sign on the wall. " 'Three out of four grey rocks recommend you push them.' That is oddly specific." He noted.

Frisk pushed the large rock onto the plate and the spikes retracted into the floor. "Yes! Let's go!" She shouted before once again trying to drag him into the next room. Another winged monster blocked their path. "Hi Whimsun!" Frisk greeted. The creature flew away crying, just like the last one.

"I get the feeling those monsters don't want to fight." AJ commented.

"Poor thing."

"I have to agree with you there."

The next room was wide and filled with leaves.

"Well I no longer trust these red leaves, who knows what's under them? Spikes? No thank you!" The older human spoke.

"Well how else do we get by them?" The younger human asked.

They both looked around and found that there was literally nothing else in the room besides a fall waiting to happen.

"Alright… let's just walk really slowly and carefully." AJ decided. They both walked very slowly over the leaves, hearing the floor crack under them with each step. Occasionally the floor would collapse next to them in one spot, revealing that there were no spikes under them, thankfully. "Wait… is there a path below us?" He asked.

They both looked down the holes and into the room below them. There they saw more leaves, but they made the shape of a path. "Oh yeah, it is." Frisk realized.

"Normally I wouldn't think this, but Toriel mentioned puzzles, so… What if the path below us is how we get through without falling?" He wondered.

Frisk gasped in realization. "That would make sense!"

They both began prodding the floor around them, moving the leaves and braking the floor, allowing them to see below them and see the path. They walked directly above the path as they broke the floor around them and they were able to get through without falling and possibly being trapped.

Frisk cheered and they both high fived before they went into the next room. More spikes awaited them, as well as three plates, and three more rocks.

"Oh no." AJ whined.

"What?" Frisk asked.

" 'Three out of four grey rocks…', remember?" He said. "We pushed one, and here's three more. What's the fourth one gonna do?"

"Maybe it'll just be a bit mad?" Frisk guessed.

"Maybe it'll attack us." He pointed out before walking up to the first rock. "Alright. Please cooperate." He said before pushing the large rock onto the plate. "Ok, good." He pushed the second one.

Suddenly, a large thing of gelatin hopped over in front of him. 'How exactly is this monster going to attack me?'

It wiggled.

Frisk giggled and wiggled back.

'What a meaningful conversation…' AJ mentally deadpanned.

The slime moved on.

He looked at her with a confused expression. "How do you even?"

"I don't know! I just do what I feel I should do!" Frisk answered with a grin.

'Officially enjoying herself a bit too much.' He and Frisk both stepped up to the third rock. "No, Frisk, step back." He requested. She stepped back before he braced himself and put his hands on the rock.

"WHOA there, pardner! Who said you could push me around?"

AJ jumped back and looked at the rock. "U-Um…" He wasn't really expecting Frisk to be right and didn't know what to do if it didn't attack them.

"Can you please move over for us?" Frisk asked politely as she stepped up much closer than her guardian was comfortable with.

"Hmm? So you're _askin_ ' me to move over?" The rock spoke. "Okay, just for you, pumpkin." The rock moved slightly towards the plate on the floor.

Frisk walked up to it again. "Mr. Rock, could you please move over some more?" She asked politely.

"Hmm? You want me to move some more?" The rock asked.

AJ huffed in annoyance and crossed his arms. 'So the nice way works for her, but it only gets me hurt? Okay.' He thought irritably.

"Alrighty, how's this?" The rock moved the wrong way.

"Huh? Oh, no Mr. Rock, not that way!" Frisk said, maintaining her playful vibe.

"Hmm? That was the wrong direction? Oh okay, I think I got it." The rock moved onto the plate.

"Yeah! Thank you, Mr. Rock!" Frisk thanked before they went to walk past the spikes and leave the room.

The spikes returned before they could leave.

""What?""

AJ spun around and glared at the rock before walking up to it. "Now listen here you little-" He cut himself off and let out a slow breath. "Sorry, but we kind of need you to stay on the plate."

"Hmm? You wanted me to _stay_ there?" The rock asked.

"Yes!" The human half-shouted.

"You're giving me a real workout!" The rock commented before moving back onto the plate.

He backed up slowly and glared at the rock threateningly till he was passed the spikes. Once he knew they were safe, he took Frisk's hand and they continued on.

"You see, AJ? You don't have to always start off with fighting. You just have to try harder! Be sincerely nice! Not all these monsters want to just hurt us!" Frisk said, her cheerful smile never leaving.

Through the doorway they found a long hall. As they walked through they came across a table with cheese on it.

AJ blinked twice at the random object in the otherwise empty hall. "Why?" He asked aloud.

"Determination cheese…" Frisk whispered in awe before trying to take the cheese. It seemed to be stuck to the table, because she couldn't take it.

"Oh, look, there's a mouse hole here." The boy noted as he crouched next to the opposing wall.

A small squeek came from the hole.

"I believe in you, mouse! One day you'll get that cheese! You just have to have DETERMINATION!" Frisk shouted confidently.

The older human stopped to briefly question the sanity of the adorable child, but then he remembered that he had decided he was insane a couple years ago, so they simply continued on.

* * *

 **Gonna have to end the chapter here unfortunately. I kinda gotta focus on school work tomorrow (Yay procrastination!), then the next day the Division comes out, then the day after that it's my birthday so my parents are gonna force me to do stuff since it's a special day. (Yeah but it's MY special day, so I should have the choice to do nothing!) And at some point I'm gonna have to stop what I'm doing to post this for you guys… oh crap I hope I don't forget… DIDN'T FORGET**

 **Anyway, for the next chapter, we'll meet Napstablook, and who knows what else we'll do!?**

 **And I would just like to say real quick that I am loving all the follows and favs that I've gotten after only two chapters. Best 'welcome to the fanfic side of this fandom' that I've ever gotten! Once again I apologize for the almost inevitable disappointment. XD**

 **Hope you enjoyed my birthday present to you all and I hope you all have a great week.**


	4. Their new Home?

**Man, I really want to write long, cool fight scenes with all these monsters, but I really can't do it with most of them. I can't really think of any fights inside the ruins, besides Toriel's that I could even make remotely long. Oh well, something for me to look forward to writing I guess.**

 **Hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.4

* * *

The next room bottlenecked very quickly, with a bed of red leaves on the floor right where it bottlenecked. That alone would have been a bother, they would have had to jump over it, but that wasn't an option this time. There was a monster sleeping right in the path, right on the leaves. It looked like the cliché ghost, like someone wearing a blanket, only they had no legs… and the blanket had a face.

"Zzzzzzzzz… zzzzzzz… are they gone yet?... Zzzzzzzzz…." The ghost was saying 'Z' out loud repeatedly, it wasn't actually asleep. It was… pretending to sleep?

"If it's pretending to sleep, it's doing pretty bad…" AJ whispered very quietly.

The ghost stopped saying "z" and whimpered for a moment.

The older human's eyebrows rose in concern as his soft side took over. "Oh! No, I was just kidding! You're doing great!" He said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. That wasn't easy to do, as this was one of those times where he had to put effort into showing an emotion.

"Yeah! You're very good at fake sleeping!" Frisk added.

The ghost got off the floor and now floated before them with a sad, depressed look. "T-that's nice of you to say…" Tears then started flowing, and then they leapt off its body and started flying at them.

""Oh, the poor thing!"" The humans both exclaimed as they started dodging the tears, not wanting to risk getting hit and finding out that they hurt.

"H-hey! It's okay! You don't need to cry!" Frisk said as she jumped high into the air to avoid a wall of teardrops.

"Yeah! Why not let us help you? We could do something to cheer you up!" AJ suggested.

"Why not a joke?" Frisk asked after she landed. Her fellow human nodded in agreement. They ducked under more tears and whispered to each other quickly before standing back up as the barrage of floating tears stopped for a moment.

"Hey, Frisk! Do you know where ghosts go to mail their letters?" The male human asked.

"I don't know!" The female human acted. "Where do ghosts go to mail their letters?"

"The ghost office!" AJ answered.

They both paused and waited for a reaction.

Nothing.

There wasn't even some sort of cricket-like monster nearby.

"No? Okay. Um…" AJ was interrupted when a tear hitting his shoulder. It burnt through his already hole-filled shirt and burnt his skin, cracking his soul. "AH!" He cried out in pain. Unfortunately pain kind of pisses him off, so he pulled out his blade and ran at the ghost angrily. Once he reached the ghost he slashed it before jumping back and landing next to Frisk. It was then that his head cleared and he realized what he had done. "Oh god! I'm so sorry!" He shouted and forced himself to shut up before he started ranting and saying "sorry" over and over again. Instead he waited.

"It's okay…" The ghost said depressingly. "I'm incorporeal, so you can't actually hurt me…"

His eyes widened a bit. "Oh! Okay… well…" He looked away from that awkward situation and saw Frisk had her arms crossed and she looked very unhappy. "I'm sorry, okay!? Getting hit makes me really angry, in case you hadn't noticed." He said as he looked away from her as well.

She let out an annoyed sigh. "Let's just try another joke, and don't do that again." She demanded.

"Do you know what ghosts eat for supper?" The younger human asked.

"Who says supper?" AJ commented. She frowned at him. "Sorry! Sorry!" He said quickly. "I don't know, Frisk. What _do_ ghosts eat for supper?"

"Spooketi!" Frisk answered, and they both laughed.

"Heh… heh…" The ghost just barely laughed and just barely smiled, but it was good enough for them. Unfortunately, the tears didn't stop.

They both continued to dodge, but Frisk jumped to avoid one, and ended up going right into another. She cried out in pain as it burnt her shoulder. He quickly jumped to her side with concern written all over his face. "Are you okay!?" He asked.

"Y-yeah… I'll live." She answered a bit shakily. He saw more tears coming and quickly covered her body with his own and cried out as two more tears bit into his back. Tears of his own threatened to come out because of how much they stung. The attacks stopped suddenly once again, and they looked over to the ghost hesitantly.

"Sorry… I'm really not feeling up to it right now…" The ghost said slowly.

Despite the burning, and the fact that his soul and Frisk's were both cracked quite a bit, he couldn't stay mad at it. It was clearly really depressed and he felt so sorry for it.

"H-hey… come on. What are you crying about?" He asked gently, getting up to approach the ghost. "There's no need to cry, is there?"

"H-hey… do you want to see something?" The ghost asked hesitantly, but with just a hint of a hopeful smile.

He smiled and nodded. More tears appeared, and the human tried to not look scared, but his right foot still slid back slightly, ready to run back to Frisk's side. The tears then floated up onto the ghost's head, and they fused together into a large hat.

"I call it… dapper blook… do you like it?" The ghost asked hopefully.

He smiled and nodded. "Yes, of course. It looks great!"

"Yeah!" Frisk agreed, hopping over to her fellow human's side happily.

"Heh… thank you…" The ghost said. "My name's Napstablook… normally I come here to be alone… but today I met two nice people… that's weird… oh, sorry. I'm rambling again… I'll get out of your way…" The ghost then faded away.

"No wait!" The older human called out. "Aww… I wanted to talk to him more…" He said sadly.

Frisk, however, was more focused on other things. She jumped at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, laughing and shouting "You did it! You did it!"

He chuckled. "Alright, alright. I get it, you're proud of me. Can you stop choking me, please?" He requested.

She climbed up onto his shoulders and enjoyed looking at everything from such a height. "Sorry. I'm just so happy! You did it! You spared a monster willingly! Sure, you tried to kill it once, but there's always room for improvement!"

"Hey, just because you're on my shoulders, doesn't mean you get to talk down to me." He pointed out.

She laughed sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Hey, do you still have two of those candies?" AJ asked as he slowly walked around the room and let her enjoy the ride.

"Come on! Go faster!"

"Frisk!" He shouted, making her tense up for a moment before looking down curiously. "I'm kind of in pain right now. Can I have a piece of candy, please?" He asked.

"Oh, sorry." She apologized before reached into her pocket and taking out and unwrapping a piece of candy before popping it into his mouth for him.

"Thank you." He said as he chewed the candy. The decent cracks in his soul vanished, and he now felt perfectly fine. Classic video game. 'Ever since we fell down here, we've had some video game-like powers. We aren't really hurt by falls, only by combat, we can be healed by eating something, we can jump really high, move faster… I've honestly felt stronger since we fell too. I need to test things later…' "Hey, you got hurt a bit there too, you should have the last piece."

She hummed in thought. "I think I'd rather save it till one of us really needs it. Now, go faster!" She ordered. He wanted to argue against that and have her stay as healthy as possible, but he had to admit, saving it was probably for the best. She squealed and laughed as he began running in circles around the room, forcing her to cling to him so she wouldn't fall off.

"Alright, wild child, that's enough for now." He said after a few minutes of running around.

"You're not going to make me get down, are you?" Frisk asked. He couldn't see her face, but he was sure she was making some adorable sad face.

"I wasn't going to say that at all." He said with a smile.

"Yay!"

"But it's about time we got moving." He decided and started walking towards the doorway ahead of them.

"Yeah! We need to keep looking for a new home!" Frisk said, raising her hand to shield her eyes from light that wasn't there, scouting for something interesting.

He rolled his eyes. "Great. I'm just your sidekick on your quest." He deadpanned jokingly.

She looked down at him. "No you're not. It's _our_ quest, remember!?" She stated dramatically. "We're going to find a home where we can both be happy!"

He rolled his eyes again as he smiled. "Whatever you say."

* * *

They walked into the room right ahead of them, and the room was a dead end. All that was in the room was two spider webs against the left wall. He walked up to the spider webs. "What is the point of this room!? Is it a puzzle!?" He looked around. "Is it a trap!? Was this a storage room!? What in the world is the point of-" He stopped talking when he saw a couple of gold coins fly down and into the smaller left web. "W-Where did you get gold coins!?" He asked the girl on his shoulders, shocked.

"When we spared some of those monsters, some coins appeared in my pockets." Frisk answered.

He blinked twice. 'Oh, right. Video game.' "Alright, fair enough then." He said. He looked at the wall as a couple small spiders descended on their strings. He took a few steps back and watched as they carried a donut down together. He looked at them for a moment, confused, until they shook the donut slightly, as if motioning for him to take it. He scooted a bit closer and reached as far as he could to take the donut before jumping away. "Um… t-thank you…" He said hesitantly. He saw the small spiders nod before taking the gold coins and retreating back up their strings. "How did you know to do that?"

"We walked past another doorway when we came in here." Frisk started. "I saw a sign through the other way and I was able to read 'Spider Bakesale' before we walked in here."

"Oh." He responded before he walked back out of the room and saw there was another way out that they missed. "Hey, where's the sign?" He asked, confused.

"I don't know." Frisk's height advantage didn't help at all, she couldn't see the sign anywhere. "It was right where you're standing now."

"Okay… that's weird." The older human commented before they moved on.

They turned right and walked down the hall, it was wider than some other halls they had been through, but it was completely barren.

Excluding the monster in their way.

It looked like a massive eye that had horns, arms, and legs, and what looked like teeth under the eye.

"I'm Loox. Please don't pick on me." The monster requested.

"I wasn't going to?" AJ said, slightly confused by the monster's request. 'Well at least this monster can talk.'

Loox shot an energy bubble out of its eye that hit AJ right in the chest and knocked them down.

"Please don't hurt it…" The girl said weakly as she stood up.

"It just shot us and you're telling _me_ not to hurt it?" The older human complained as he stood up as well. It shot another bubble at him, and he unsheathed his machete in a flash and deflected it away. "We don't want to fight you." He said with some difficulty.

"We aren't going to pick on you." Frisk said gently.

It blinked its massive eye before doing what kind of sort of looked like a smile. "Finally someone gets it!" It said gratefully before walking away.

"Ugh. Thank god that thing left. It smelled like eyedrops." AJ commented. "Oh yeah, and it shot me!" He added angrily.

"Thank you for listening. You're getting better!" Frisk said happily. She made a motion to indicate she wanted to climb onto his shoulders again.

"I think it's best that we don't do that right now. It's easier for me to dodge if you aren't on my shoulders." He reasoned. She pouted. "You know I'm right." She reluctantly sighed. She took his hand and they continued on.

The next room quickly opened up into a very large room, only there was seemingly nothing in it besides six piles of red leaves on the floor and the usual plants on the walls. There _were_ a few openings similar to the one that AJ had used to climb up after he had fallen, though, so that could mean something. Once again, spikes have blocked their path. They looked around and avoided the leaves, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

The younger human sighed in annoyance. "What are we looking for!?"

He sighed as well. "I'm starting to think we might need to fall down the holes that these leaves are hiding."

"I hope we don't get hurt." Frisk commented as she looked at one of the leaf piles.

"Well, I've found that falling doesn't hurt much and it doesn't hurt for long, so we _should_ be fine." AJ said. He thought of spikes for an instant and then forced the thought out of his mind. "Actually, it could be dangerous, so you just stay up here and I'll be the one to fall down and check for way to lower those spikes."

"Please be careful." The girl said with concern.

He smiled. "I will. Though I can't jump down until you let go of my hand." He added with a chuckle. She reluctantly let go and he stomped the ground to break through it before jumping through the hole. He landed in a very small room. There was nothing in it but some plant in the ground, and a hole for him to climb out. 'Well, there's nothing in here." He noted aloud.

The plant in the ground jumped out of the ground and stood before him, a large carrot with a creepy smile. He was worried, being stuck in such a cramped area with a monster that was likely going to try and kill him, again. Though as much as he wanted to reach for his weapon, no, he felt a _need_ to reach for his weapon, he wouldn't do it. He could just _feel_ Frisk looking down the hole at both he and the monster. Her presence in this situation was that of an adult, like a teacher or parent, looking over your shoulder. He was going to get scolded by the kid again if he fought the monster.

"Uh… hi there?" He started hesitantly.

"Plants can't talk, dummy." The carrot said.

"W-what!? Hey!" He said, insulted. "You can't just say that you can't talk by talking you-" Any chance to call the plant names or swear was cut off when the plant shot out a multitude of small carrots at him. He ducked under the swarm and jumped to another corner of the room. His willingness to fight lasted maybe five seconds till he realized that the sharp carrots were bouncing around all around the room and almost completely blocking his vision. "AAAH!" He screamed fearfully as he jumped straight out of the hole, skipping out on the hole that he could have used to climb out. A few stray carrots followed him out of the hole before he landed next to the girl. "Iiiiiiimmm not going back down there." He decided.

"Are you okay?" Frisk asked.

"Surprisingly, only one of those things even scratched me, so yeah." AJ answered as he looked himself over.

"Let's try a different one." Frisk suggested before walking over to another pile of leaves.

"I can get behind that idea." The older human said with enthusiasm as he quickly walked away from the pit.

"Should I just down the next one instead?" The young one asked.

"N-no." AJ said hesitantly. "I'm the older one here… I should be the one that does the dangerous things. I don't want you to get hurt." He didn't like it, but he was going to put up with it so she wouldn't get hurt. He pulled out his machete so he would be ready. He saw her give him a look, she wasn't comfortable with him doing that. "I'm just gonna use it to protect myself, to deflect attacks and such." With that, he jumped down. Frisk heard him gasp. "Oh hey!" He said, as if he had recognized something. "What's your name again?" She looked as hard as she could down the hole. Thanks to the lighting, she could barely see down this one.

"Napstablook…"

"*Gasp* Napstablook's down there!?" The child asked, surprised.

"Hey buddy, how are you doing? You left before we could talk last time." The boy said calmly.

"I'm not doing so good…" She heard the ghost answer.

"What's wrong?" Her protector asked, concerned.

"I fell down here, and now I can't get out." The ghost said.

"Oh. Can you not fly?" AJ asked, confused.

"Oh…" The ghost said. "I can actually…"

"Oh, good! I'm glad I could help." AJ said cheerfully.

"Yeah… thanks…" The ghost said slowly. "You… seem happy to see me…"

"Of course I am! It's very nice to see you again!" The boy said cheerfully, and what surprised Frisk was that he sounded very genuine. "I know what it's like to feel that way you do, and if I can help it, I don't want anyone to feel that way." He said gently. "I doubt that you deserve it." He added.

"…T-Thank you."

A moment later, the older human jumped back up out of the pit with a smile on his face. "I wish he would have just gone with us… but I think I helped him, so I'll just live with that." 'He looked happy.' He thought.

Frisk couldn't help but smile back, she wanted the ghost to be happy too.

The third hole that the older human jumped down led to a room with a switch. With the switch flipped, they were able to move on to the next room.

* * *

Though the next rooms had some "puzzle" about perspective that made absolutely no sense, leaving them confused when they stepped into a hall with flowers scattered everywhere. Unable to understand the 'perspective' bit of that last puzzle, they simply walked on. The hall branched out. They could turn left, or keep going straight. They decided to go left, and they wouldn't get a chance to check the other direction.

Initially what stood before them was a large tree with red leaves scattered around it. It had no leaves on it, maybe it was the source of the red leaves scattered around the ruins. They barely had a chance to look at it before a certain horned woman came around the corner.

"Oh dear, that took longer than I thought it would." Toriel said as she stepped around the tree in the middle of the path. She pulled out her phone, and Frisk's phone went off on cue. Toriel's eyes widened and she put away the phone before running up to them. "Ah! You two!? Are you okay!?" She asked, concerned. "You aren't! Let me heal you both!" Her hands/paws glowed a light green and the cracks in their souls went away. They felt much better now. "How did you two get here?" Toriel asked.

The two humans looked at each other worriedly. "Well, you know how kids are, right? They want to explore." AJ started.

"Hey!"

"I didn't want her to sit around and get bored, and I figured I could protect her from anything that tried to hurt us, so we went and explored." The older human finished.

"Ah, I see." Toriel said, clearly a bit annoyed with them.

"I can't say that no humans or monsters were hurt on the trip, but I can say for certain that no one died." The older human said.

Toriel smiled a bit. "Well, that is good. I suppose it was a bit irresponsible to try and surprise you both like this. Um! I mean…"

The two humans smiled knowingly to each other.

Toriel sighed, but still smiled. "Well, I suppose I cannot hide it any longer. Follow me."

They walked past the tree and the two humans stood before a cute little house that stood out compared to the vast ruins they had walked through. "Determination…" Frisk whispered as she admired the house.

AJ facepalmed as he couldn't hold back his smile. "Out of all the reactions to this house, you choose determination." He heard her giggle in response. "That is rapidly becoming your catchphrase." He noted. "Anyway, shall we go inside?"

Frisk nodded before taking his hand once again as they entered the house.

(If you want to, you could start playing "Home" or "Home (Music Box)" from the Undertale OST)

The house was even cuter on the inside. There was a small center room with stairs in the back, but there was also a hall to the right and a living room to the left. Toriel stood before them with a slightly enthusiastic smile.

"Do you smell that?" She asked. They sniffed the air and noted a very pleasant smell. "Surprise! It's a butterscotch-cinnamon pie!" She said.

"Yay!" Frisk cheered.

"I hope you both like it." Toriel said.

'I hope so too.' AJ thought.

"However, I have another surprise for you to see first!" Toriel said enthusiastically. "Follow me!" She requested as she walked to the hall on the right. They followed her and in her enthusiasm, she took Frisk's and AJ's hands as they walked into the hall. They stopped at the first door they saw on their left. "Here it is! A room just for you two!" She pat Frisk's head and the girl closed her eyes and chuckled. Once again, Toriel's excitement and happiness got the better of her and she pet the male human despite his age and the fact that he was taller than her. Before she could stop herself, she saw him close his eyes in bliss and tilt his head slightly towards her hand like a dog.

Or a cat.

When she stopped petting him he opened his eyes and realized what he had been doing. His eyes widened and he blushed slightly in embarrassment. Frisk giggled, which only made him more embarrassed.

"I must warn you now, there is only one bed in the room at the moment. I will see what I can do to give you something to sleep on. I don't want you to be uncomfortable." Toriel said.

"T-Thank you for the warning…" The older human mumbled, still embarrassed.

"Is something burning?" Toriel said randomly. She sniffed the air and her eyes widened. "Um, make yourselves at home!" She said before rushing in the direction of the living room.

Frisk walked into the room with a smile that soon had her partner smiling again as well. The room had one small bed in the back right corner, with some toys around it and a box of toys in front of it. Next to it against the back wall was a cabinet, next to that was a stand with toys on it, as well as an empty photo frame that was covered in dust. Next to that on the wall was a picture of a flower that appeared to have been drawn by a child. Below it, on the floor, was a box full of variously sized kids shoes. 'Maybe some humans that have been here before us were children like Frisk?' Finally, in the back left corner was a lamp which was currently on and lighting up the room.

"This is a nice little room." AJ commented.

"Yeah!" Frisk agreed as she walked around the room and examined everything. She didn't seem to care much for the toys though. "It's actually really nice! I can't believe Toriel let us have this room!"

"She's awfully nice." The boy noted.

The innocent one looked down sadly as she sat on the bed. "I kind of feel bad… I don't want to leave after she gave us this room and made us a pie…"

Her friend sat down next to her. "You could stay if you want." He pointed out.

She thought about it for a second. "I don't know… Do you like it here?"

"We haven't even seen the whole house yet." He pointed out.

"I meant the room, silly." She chuckled.

"Nah. It's too girly for me." He answered simply before standing up and walking around the room. "Everything's all light red and pink in here. At least I think it is. I kind of have red-green colorblindness so it could be red or pink." He said.

The girl chuckled. "I thought you might say it was girly."

He turned and looked at her. "Well hey, we've been walking for quite awhile. Why don't you try and get some rest?" He suggested.

The child pursed her lips in thought. "Hmm…"

"Oh come on. You need to get some sleep." He said insistently.

"Only if you come here for a second." She requested, patting her hand on the spot next to her.

"If you think I'm going to tuck you in, you-…" He stopped himself and stood still for a moment. "You will probably not get your way but you are freaking adorable so maybe you will I don't actually know." He said quickly before sitting next to her.

She suddenly raised her hand and started petting him with a big smile on her face. He froze for a second before looking down and away from her. She continued to pet him, and he growled in embarrassment and frustration. He blushed and pouted, but she just giggled adorably and continued to pet him. She was determined not to stop until he gave in. This continued for a minute or two, and eventually he stopped pouting, and growling, and blushing, and just smiled as she pet him. She smiled victoriously for a moment, knowing she had found his weakness.

"You're like a kitty!" Frisk noted happily.

He let her pet him for another half a minute before pushing her to the other side of the small bed. "Alright, that's enough. Go to sleep you dork." He requested as she laughed. He quickly stood up and turned around to hide his smile. Once he got control of his grin, he turned back to her and saw her pulling up her blanket. "I'm going to go look around a bit. Be back soon." He said before turning off the lamp, opening and closing the door, and going towards the smell of pie. He noted the cinnamon scent apart from the general smell.

He walked out the hall and into the living room where the fireplace was crackling with a pleasant flame. He walked on and into the kitchen at the end where Toriel was saving the pie from the flame and trying to blow away the smoke with her apron. 'Hmm… Maybe I'll just talk to her later.' He decided before turning around. He reentered their room and saw Frisk look at him with little lights in her eyes. He waved back to her before sitting down against the wall beside the door. "We're in Toriel's house, and I'm here in the room, so you're safe here." He whispered, knowing how she felt about someone protecting her.

"Thank you." She whispered back before closing her eyes.

He sat there for a few minutes before deciding he wanted to go to sleep as well. He was going to sleep where he was, but then he decided to lie on the rug in the middle of the room. Then, just before he did that, he realized he should roll up the rug so he would have something meaningful to lie on, so he did just that. It takes him a long time to get to sleep, so he was still awake when the door opened and Toriel walked in with two plates with two slices of pie on them.

Toriel looked over and noted that the girl seemed to be asleep. "I am sorry, I could not find anything for you to sleep on." She whispered as she placed the two plates on the floor nearby.

"It's okay." He whispered. "This rolled up rug works okay for now."

"If you say so. Goodnight." Toriel said as she closed the door.

"Goodnight." 'Huh. She really is nice. She really does care. She's proof that some of these monsters aren't bad and won't try to kill us on sight. I'll need to keep an eye out for any more like her. These things aren't just monsters, they're human in many ways. Good, I don't want to kill anything anyway.' He thought before settling in again to try and sleep.

* * *

 **Well, I guess we'll end it there… Crap I got nothing to say. Nothing clever, nothing informative… and I feel like I should… crap.**

 **Oh! I know! I'll hint at what happens next!**

 ***Whispers* They fight that person whose name starts with 'T' and ends with 'oriel'.**

 **Well, I hope you enjoyed. I also would hope you would have followed or faved by now if you did. XD**

 **And as my last hope: I hope you all have a great week!**


	5. Goodbye

**(I did not, in fact, take two weeks to get this out because I spent a week doing another fic. I actually spent two weeks making this. Progress was slow for this chapter, okay!?)**

 **So um… here's the thing. I don't plan ahead. Besides the fact that I know how this all will end, I haven't planned ahead at all. When I said what I said last chapter… I really figured I was going to do that! I figured I would get on with the story and be done with this chapter, be done with the RUINS. But that didn't happen! I ended up coming up with more and more content and I just kept throwing it in and I realized I was past 5000 words and still hadn't gotten to what I said would happen!**

 **I am so sorry, but I can't do what I said I would do. I already spent two weeks working on this, I don't want to take any longer to get this out… so… CHANGE OF PLANS. FINISHING THIS NOW SO I CAN POST THIS.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.5

* * *

The morning had seemed nice, at first. Toriel was nice, as usual, Frisk was cheery, as usual, the house was pleasant, as seemed to be the norm.

And then that changed, all because he got curious.

He just wanted to learn about the house! Memorizing the layout of the place shouldn't have been a bad thing… But Toriel confronted him moments after he stepped down those stairs.

"What are you doing down here?" Toriel asked with a casual tone, a casual tone that sounded forced.

"Just exploring." AJ answered casually.

"Well there is no need to explore down here." She said as she quickly walked in front of him. It just looked like a long hall, what was so important about it?

"Why?" He asked, trying to remain casual despite the fact that she was clearly worried.

"It is cold down here, you will get sick." Toriel answered quickly.

He chuckled. "Seriously?" He was amused that was all she could come up with. 'For something so important, she should think of something better.' He thought with a hint of contempt.

"It is dusty, you will catch a cough." The goat woman added worriedly.

He openly laughed at this. "Really? You're trying to scare me away with stuff like that? That's the last thing that will work! Toriel, I could care less about the condition of my body. I barely take care of it as it is!" He exclaimed. "Don't exercise, don't eat pretty much anything healthy…" He listed off.

"Well we should head upstairs and start getting you to eat more healthy food items!" She suggested quickly and put her hands on his shoulders to turn him around.

He swiftly put his arms out towards her before spinning them outward, throwing her arms off of him, before pushing her in the chest, all in one fluid motion. "Back off! Quit trying to stop me!" He said angrily.

Toriel looked furious for a moment, but she tried her best to calm down and appear as calm as possible as she tried to turn him away.

As if that fooled him.

"What the hell is down here, huh? Why are you trying so hard to turn me around!?" He asked interrogatingly.

"Please, there really is nothing to see here." Toriel said calmly.

"Then get out of my way." He demanded in a tone that made her flinch for some reason.

"AJ, please, try to calm down." The monster requested worriedly. "It really is not that important. Can we please just go back upstairs and-"

"I said get out of my WAY!" He shouted.

*Slash* *BANG*

His vision filled with red, and for some reason that red caused _sheer terror_ to shoot through his body.

That terror made his whole body jump, and when he hit the ground he felt his hand hit something. He looked to his side and saw one of the two plates had been flipped over and a slice of pie was on the floor. He blinked twice and looked around in confusion as he laid on the floor, next to the rug and next to the plates on the floor. He felt what was left of his terror fading away and assumed he had a nightmare. Though, he had never before had a nightmare and not remembered what it was the moment after he woke up, and found it odd that that might have just happened now.

He slowly stood up and did a few stretches, resulting in many a pop along his back. He then looked down at the fallen pie and nearly growled in frustration. 'I KNEW IT! I knew I was going to knock it over in my sleep if I left it on the floor! I knew it and I did nothing about it! IDIOT!' He practically screamed in his head and dig his fingers into his head while resisting the urge to tear his own hair out. He looked to the bed and saw the girl, Frisk, was still asleep. He quietly left the room and closed the door.

He walked further down the hall as he had not gotten a chance to do so yet. Once he thought he was far enough that no one would hear it, he slapped himself across the face. He looked up and saw that he had just happened to walk past a mirror. He glared at his own image and pointed at it as he angrily mouthed out. 'Will you ever learn!? If you KNOW you need to do something, then DO IT!' "Useless!" He whispered.

"Who is useless?"

He half jumped before turning to his left and seeing Toriel looking at him with concern.

"Are you referring to yourself?" She asked with the slight concern evident in her tone.

He was too angry to have a normal conversation right now. "Please just leave me alone, Toriel. I'm going outside." He said bitterly before walking past her, down the hall, and out the door. He walked outside the house and felt he could finally let some of his anger out. He started to swing angrily at the air, but on his third swing he noticed the sheer power he felt flowing through his arm and he stopped. He looked at his own fist for a second before looking around for something. He saw that the walls of the house ended quickly and other brick and rock walls soon became much more common. With admittedly little thought, he walked right up to a rock wall and punched it as hard as he could.

The wall cracked.

" _OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW_!"

…So did his knuckles…

Screaming into his arm didn't seem to dampen his scream that much, he noted. Though he also wondered if it actually had dampened the sound and it just sounded so loud cause it was his own scream.

It obviously didn't dampen it enough because Toriel rushed out of the house with a fireball in her hand. She saw that he was hurt and that no one had caused it, so she dispersed the fire and quickly ran to his side. "What happened!? Where are you hurt!?"

She could clearly see he was clutching his right arm, specifically his hand. "I punched a f*cking wall cause I'm an idiot…" He groaned, his tone matching that of someone who was _very much in pain_.

"Language!"

"Sorry…"

Toriel sighed. "Let me see your hand." She requested. He reluctantly yet quickly moved his hand towards her so she could use her healing magic on it. Her magic quickly removed the wounds and the pain, making AJ let out a huge sigh of relief. He wiped his hand on the grass to get the remaining blood off before he stood up. "Thank you, very much."

"You are welcome. In the future, maybe you will reconsider punching a rock wall." Toriel stated with a slight smirk.

He couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Huh, she has a sense of humor." He noted aloud, making them both chuckle.

"I try to. Would you like to hear a joke?" The goat asked with a smile.

His expression gave away his answer before his mouth could. He was gonna say no and he was sorry about it. "Eh… sorry Toriel. I would love to hear a joke later, really, I would." He said honestly. "But I wanted to ask something."

"Is there something you would like to know about the Underground?" Toriel guessed.

"I mean… there probably are a few questions I could ask if I thought about it… but no. I wanted to ask how I did that." The human stated, pointing at the small cracks in the wall. "I am not a healthy or strong person, but ever since we fell, I have felt so much… _better_. I'm clearly stronger, I can jump really high, I'm faster, I'm not getting exhausted so easily. Do you know why?"

Toriel nodded. "Yes, actually. When humans sealed us monsters down here, they sealed all the magic in the world with us. All the concentrated magic that you are being exposed to is what has changed you."

Her answer made him visually enthusiastic. "Is there any way I can learn to harness that magic? Can I, like, do spells?" His eyes widened slightly at an idea. "Can you teach me your healing magic?"

She smiled at his enthusiasm and change of mood, but her smile became a sad one quickly. "I am sorry, but I cannot."

He sulked.

"I know you want to protect Frisk, but those with your soul are not known to learn healing magic." Toriel stated.

He looked up with a raised brow. "What do you mean?"

"Humans have different souls, and depending on those souls, they could potentially harness a certain type of magic." The monster woman explained. "If you wanted to learn healing magic, you would have to have a kind soul."

He looked down at his soul with disappointment as well as sadness and held it close. "I thought I was a nice person… I always tried to be…"

"Do not feel bad." Toriel said quickly. "It does not mean that you are not kind, it just means that you are a more determined individual than you thought."

He looked down at his soul again with a confused look. He never thought he was a determined person, just the opposite usually. "What magic could a determined person learn?" He asked curiously.

"We do not know, actually." The monster woman answered. "Supposedly not even the ancient humans could figure out what magic a determined soul could use. You simply have your determination!" She said cheerfully, as if that would help him warm up to the idea.

"Yay… I'm gonna be determined for no reason…" He deadpanned, devoid of enthusiasm.

Toriel's smile fell for a moment when his enthusiasm went away as fast as it had come. She quickly came up with something to cheer him up. "Why don't we go back inside and get you some pie now?" She suggested.

He nodded reluctantly. "That would be nice."

The goat woman was very happy to find him smiling after having a slice (or three) of her homemade butterscotch-cinnamon pie. Frisk woke up shortly after AJ started eating, and with both of them chowing down, there wasn't much pie left over by the end. "You must have been hungry!" She noted happily as she looked at the older human.

The boy swallowed the last bite of his third slice of pie before smiling at her and nodding gratefully. "Yeah! Thank you." He knew that coming up without not just medical supplies, but food as well, was pretty stupid, but he couldn't have cared less. Of course he wished he had taken them now, but how was he supposed to know anyone other than himself would be involved in his journey?

"Yeah, thank you!" Frisk added cheerfully. "Best pie I've ever had!"

"Why thank you, child!" Toriel said with a chuckle before turning to the taller human. "If you are done eating, would you mind if I stitched up your shirt? It has an awful lot of tears in it." Toriel asked.

He looked down at his shirt, not that he really needed to to know how much damage those vines had done. "I mean…I wouldn't mind, but… I have nothing else to wear while you stitch it up." He pointed out, embarrassed at the idea of having to go without a shirt for awhile.

"Oh I'm sure I have something that you could wear in the meantime." The goat woman said. "It will not take me too long to sew it up, unless I get distracted of course." She added with a giggle. "My mind tends to wonder."

"Same." AJ commented. "Well, if we can find something, I'll let you sew it up."

Toriel looked around in the other rooms while the two humans looked in their room for anything AJ could wear. They didn't find much besides some cloaks and a bunch of stripped sweaters like the one that Frisk wears. And so the boy was stuck in an awkwardly small sweater while he sat on the small bed and waited for Toriel to fix the holes in his shirt. Normally when he was as bored as he was now, he would be pacing around, but he didn't want to get in Frisk's way. For some reason the girl was quite deep in thought and was pacing all around the room.

"What are thinking so much about?" The older one asked after some time.

"I don't know if we should stay or not." The young one answered.

"It doesn't seem so bad now that we've seen Toriel's house and gotten some good food, does it?" He asked humorously.

"Yeah. That pie really was good." She said almost absentmindedly. She seemed more focused on walking and thinking than walking and talking.

"Though we can't have pie every day." AJ pointed out as he observed the rare animal known as 'The analytical Frisk'. Though there was nothing wrong with putting thought into this. "Deciding where to live must be a pretty difficult decision for you to make." He thought aloud.

The girl stopped and looked at him oddly. Her eyes widened in realization before she grew annoyed and stomped over so she could sit on the bed with him. "I told you already, this is our quest! We're both looking for a home! We both should be deciding this!" She said strongly. "What do you think about this? Is this a good home for you?"

'Well if I had to pick a home, I would want mine to be _on the freaking surface_.' He thought. 'But…' "I don't really know. There isn't much here." His tone told that he was leaning towards not staying here. What he wanted to do was get to the surface, since there was more on the surface than underground. At the same time though, there are human beings on the surface, and he hated most of them. There were two that he liked, but one was sitting right next to him, so that didn't give him much reason to go back.

"I think we should move on." Frisk spoke up, breaking him out of his thoughts. "There isn't enough here for you and-"

He raised his hands up and waved them to stop her. "Well hey, there's no need to leave just because it's not that all that great for me!" He said.

"There's not even another bed here for you." The girl countered adamantly. "I don't want our home to be anywhere where you aren't happy too!"

He leaned back slightly with wide eyes and gave her an odd look. It was a confused look, but he also appeared a bit sad or depressed. He turned away from her and mumbled "You're a weird kid…" She was acting so strongly, all so he would be happy. She was willing to part with a perfectly nice little place just because it isn't enough for him. He had to wonder if she was even human. "You're basically asking for the perfect home. If you won't take anything less than perfect, than your journey is going to go on for a very long time…" He said depressingly, like he spoke from experience.

" _Our_ journey." The younger human corrected.

"Whatever." He countered, turning his head to look at her again. "Frisk, I don't freaking care about myself, would you get that through your thick little skull? I always think about other people before myself, that's who I am." He said strongly. "So just worry about yourself."

She simply smiled and booped his nose. "Well get _this_ through _your_ thick skull! I don't care if you don't care about yourself, because I do! This is _our_ journey, and I won't accept any home that we aren't both happy in, got it?" She asked sweetly. The girl had backed him into the corner of the bed and was practically leaning over him with a smile on her face. It was a simple smile that said she would not let a friend of hers be unhappy.

"I have only heard of you people that care really strongly about others in _legends_." He said jokingly. The girl finally gave him his space and giggled happily since he hadn't argued with her. "Seriously though, you are not human. A human doesn't try so hard to make someone happy. Actually, a human wouldn't care so much about another person either." He noted.

"People aren't _that_ bad." Frisk said.

"You're just a kid. You haven't grown up and had to deal with what people are really like yet." AJ deadpanned.

"I'm not a kid." The girl said, annoyed.

"You are certainly more mature than anyone else your age, I'll give you that." The boy started. "But you think we can get through all of this without killing. You are trying to spare every monster we run into even as they try to _kill_ us." He pointed out. "Seems pretty childish to me." 'Or just plain stupid.'

"And we've done that, haven't we?" Frisk asked.

"Frisk, what happens if we run into someone that won't stop until we're dead?" AJ asked.

The girl hesitated for a moment. "We'll find a way, we won't have to kill them."

"We have gotten lucky up to this point, but let me make this clear: I will do whatever is necessary to keep us both alive. Do _not_ try to stop me if-"

"No! You won't kill anyone!" Frisk interrupted.

Her shouting at him caused a lot of anger to build up in him, but he did what he always did when he was yelled at and controlled himself. "I'm trying to protect us." He said in a monotone.

"No one has to die!" She said strongly.

"We've gotten lucky up till now, Frisk." He argued.

"I will never be happy in whatever home we find if I have to live there knowing that someone died because of me!" The girl said suddenly, on the verge of tears.

He flinched back in surprise. "Frisk… if I had to kill it wouldn't be your fault at all."

"Yes it would be…" The girl said, looking down and away from her fellow human.

He hesitantly put one hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down. "Why? Why in the world would that be your fault?" He asked, greatly confused.

"Because I would know that I could have stopped you..." She answered.

"You can't… control everything, Frisk. If I had no choice but to fight someone to protect us, that _would not be your fault_ , okay? The only people that could be at fault would be me and the person I fought. If someone attacked us and nothing you said or did would stop them from trying with all their might to kill us, I would have to fight them off and that would _not_ be a failure on your part. It would only be a failure on their part to accept your adorable friendliness." That part made her chuckle just slightly before hesitantly looking up at him. "Look, I am trying as hard as I can to not attack the monsters that fight us since you _insist_ so much, okay? I am. I don't want to kill either, but I'm just trying to protect us, and sometimes that means fighting."

The shorter human rubbed her eyes to remove the tears that were forming. "I know. I just know Toriel would be happy if everyone lived, and making her happy is the least we can do, since we're… going to leave her soon." She said sadly.

This made her friend sad as well. "After everything she's done… we're returning the favor by leaving." He let out a sad sigh. "I hate it."

"Me too. But… this just isn't the right home." Frisk said.

Even though he doesn't want any part of her quest, they're stuck together for now, so there's no point arguing with her about it. For now, it will be their quest. For now, he'll protect them both.

"Well then… hopefully _we_ " She smiled when he said we. "can find the right home. For now, I'm gonna… I don't know." He realized, looking confused. "I'll be _somewhere_ in this little house if you need me." He said before getting up and walking out into the hall. He wandered around in the hall for a few minutes, trying to ignore his own thoughts. 'Hey, these flowers look familiar.' He mentally noted.

Already he knew that Flowey was totally wrong, it isn't kill or be killed down here. 'Frisk sure doesn't care about that flower's stupid rule. Actually, she seems like a kid that would break the laws of physics simply because she doesn't care about them.' He imagined her being just stupid enough to try and break the laws of physics and actually end up succeeding. "Heh. If it's stupid but it works, it ain't stupid." He quoted with a chuckle before walking out of the hall.

He walked into the living room where he saw Toriel. The goat woman was sitting in her chair next to the fire, making great progress sewing his shirt. Seeing this monster in front of him reminded him of the other monsters they had run into, and how he had acted around them. He couldn't keep his smile up, he couldn't ignore his own thoughts anymore. "Hey, Toriel?" He did his best to seem highly curious in order to mask any negative emotions that would otherwise have been written all over his face. "Will all this magic start affecting my emotions or something?"

"No, it shouldn't." The woman answered, looking a bit concerned. "Why do you ask?"

The human shrugged. "I'm paranoid and my mind ends up thinking of all the different terrible things that could happen to me. I have no idea how this magic works, so I have no idea if there could be any negative side effects."

Toriel nodded understandingly. "Ah. Well, do not worry. Magic should not do anything besides make you stronger and capable of learning magic."

"Unless you have a determined soul like with me and Frisk." He mumbled, annoyed with that detail.

"Oh, you must have misunderstood me." The monster woman spoke up. "I did not say specifically that you cannot learn magic. I said that we do not know what you can learn!" She clarified. "Maybe you cannot learn any meaningful magic. But, maybe, because of your determination, you could potentially learn any magic! We simply do not know."

The boy's eyebrows rose a bit at this news. "Oh. So there's potential… cool." 'Not gonna get my hopes up though.' He thanked her before walking on and into the kitchen.

The fridge was filled with snails. "There's no chocolate in here. _This disappoints me_!" AJ said dramatically. There was white fur stuck in the drain. He could only imagine how annoying that was, having you fur fall into the drain when washing your hands or whatever. The stove was remarkably clean. Really the whole kitchen was clean, but the stove seemed too clean. 'Oh! Maybe she can use her fire magic to cook!' He thought. He saw what was left of the pie and was tempted to take it, but decided against it.

He wasn't one to snoop around, but he still found himself looking through all the drawers and cabinets. 'Um… where are the knives?' He didn't know why, but that really stuck out to him for some reason. 'What kind of kitchen doesn't have knives? How does she cut anything? Her claws? She would have to keep them really clean though. Does she even have claws?' He poked his head around the corner. "Toriel. How in the world do you get anything done in this kitchen without any knives?"

The goat woman turned her head and shifted in her seat to look in the direction of the kitchen. She chuckled. "AJ, there are lots of things you can do in a kitchen without a knife."

"I know. I was exaggerating on purpose." He clarified. "Do monsters just never need to cut their ingredients or something? What do you do with onions? What do you put in soups and stuff?"

"I… do not think you understand how monster food works." Toriel realized.

"So you _do_ have different food!" AJ exclaimed. "Wait, can humans eat monster food?"

"I made you a pie, did I not?" The monster asked with a happy smile.

"That's human food." The human deadpanned.

"It is?" Toriel asked.

He looked unsure. 'I am now questioning pie… never thought I'd do that.' "Um… anyway, how does monster food 'work' as you put it?"

Toriel went back to her sewing. "Well, you make it with magic ingredients, and then you eat it, and it is all magically absorbed into your body." She explained. "It does not go through your body, and it does not spoil, like human food does."

"Huh. Neat." He commented as he started walking out of the living room, intent on going back to Frisk since he was now bored. He walked into the hall and opened their door, immediately seeing his fellow human was lying down across her bed.

"Hey, AJ?" The girl started, and he stood in the doorway with raised eyebrows to show he was listening. "What you said about protecting us, it made me notice something…" She seemed hesitant for some reason. "Don't get mad at me, but… I noticed that when those monsters hit you, you got really mad and tried to kill them, even though you said you don't want to kill anyone. Why did you get so angry?"

The thoughts he was trying to avoid just kept coming back into focus, that fact didn't escape him. Immediately he felt anger start to build up in him, but he tried to remain in control. Despite that, an annoyed sigh escaped him. "Yeah, I-" He couldn't keep it back. So many thoughts were flying through so quickly and all of them angered him. The thoughts he was avoiding, the fact that he was losing control of his anger again. His anger levels shot up and he let out an annoyed "Tch!" Before abruptly slamming the door and walking back out of the hall.

He stomped down the hall and came across the stairs that led down into the unknown. He gripped the railing above the stairs that kept you from accidentally falling in and stared down blankly, because he was not even thinking about the stairs. 'What is wrong with me!? Why am I getting so angry!? I was over this! I've been over that for _years_! Why am I getting so angry again!?'

" _Dude, calm down."_

" _Why are you always so angry?"_

" _Man, you have anger issues!"_

*CRACK* AJ was scared out of his thoughts and memories by a loud crack and a small piece of wood hitting his cheek. He realized he was crushing the wood railing so strongly that he was breaking it, so he forced himself to relax. He knew that thinking about how his anger was getting to him would just make him angrier, so he tried as hard as he could to not think about it, to think about anything else. Anything, anything that he could focus on, even something as simple as the stairs below him. 'Where do these stairs go?' He wondered.

He then looked at his hands and had something much more serious to focus on. 'Why are my hands shaking?' He clutched them together tightly. 'Why won't they stop shaking?' He couldn't help but feel like the stairs had something to do with it and quickly turned to start walking towards the living room. "Ha! Nope! No thanks! I'm good! See ya!" He said quickly and waved at the stairs as he walked.

"Who are you talking to?" Toriel asked, looking up at the tall human.

"No one. Is my shirt done yet?" He asked quickly, but tried not to sound too impolite.

"It is almost done." The goat woman answered before holding up the shirt and looking over it. "Although, it wouldn't be the end of the world if you took it now." He had made quite a fuss about finding a proper shirt to wear and had been a bit upset when they didn't find one. Now here he was, seeming impatient to get his shirt back. She wondered if he wanted to go back out into the ruins to explore, because if he did, she knew he would want to be wearing his own brown shirt while he was out and about. "Actually, I think I am all done!" She noticed. "My body must have finished for me while I was daydreaming." She figured with a chuckle.

"Great! Can I have it then?" AJ asked, forcing himself to appear totally calm and patient.

"Sure!" The monster handed his shirt back to him.

"Yes! I can finally take this stupid thing off!" The human exclaimed with relief as he frantically pulled off the small sweater he was wearing and threw it at Toriel's face in a flash, so fast she barely saw him take it off. By the time she pulled the sweater out of her vision, he had put his shirt back on. Blocking her vision was why he threw it in the first place. 'Well, this thing is permanently a short sleeve now.' He mentally noted as he started twisting and swinging his arms around, enjoying having full range of movement again. "Wow… you actually did a _really_ good job!" He said, impressed, as he looked himself over. "I can barely see the places you worked on!"

"Oh, it really was nothing." Toriel stated, blushing slightly in embarrassment. "When you sew with the help of magic, it really is not that difficult."

"If you say so. I still think you did a good job." The boy complimented. His smile quickly became an empty one. "Well, I'm gonna go back to Frisk." He said before walking away so he wouldn't have to hold that fake smile any longer. He let out a sad sigh as he went to open the door to him and Frisk's room. Just before he did that, he remembered that he had stomped off, and let out another sigh before finally opening the door. He saw the girl sitting on her bed look up at him with concern.

"Are you okay now?" Frisk asked, hoping out of her bed and walking up to him.

He wasn't expecting that reaction. "Um… yeah?" He answered, confused. "Why do you look worried?"

"Well, I'm just worried that you're still angry at me." The girl answered shyly.

"What? No, Frisk, I'm not mad at you, at all." He clarified, hoping to soothe the girl's worries. "If anything I'm mad at myself for getting angry in the first place." He added hesitantly.

"Why did you get angry?" The girl asked.

"I don't know!" AJ answered irritably. He walked over and plopped down on the rolled up rug. "Some things just make me really angry and I have no control over it."

"Oh." Frisk responded before going quiet for a few seconds till she remembered something. "I knew two kids in school who were like that. They said they couldn't help it when they got angry, but people still were mean to them anyways. I'm pretty sure they tried to get them mad on purpose."

The older human let out loud, humorless laugh. "Sure sounds familiar!" He commented angrily.

"I learned what made them so mad and made sure not to do any of those things. Do you know what makes you angry?" Frisk asked as she sat cross-legged next to him.

AJ exhaled through his nose as he stared at the ceiling for a few seconds. "I know people commenting on my anger or accusing me of being angry sure pi- sure got me really angry."

"Ok. I won't talk about it anymore." The younger human said.

He looked at her in surprise for a moment before smiling and ruffling her hair. "You are a _good_ kid, you know that? How do bad parents raise such a good kid?" He wondered.

"I thought you said I was a weird kid." Frisk pointed out.

"You _are_ a weird kid! You're a good kid, and that's weird!" AJ explained with a grin.

"Well, I'm fine with being weird then!" The girl decided.

He had no comment for that. "So… I guess this is it then?" He asked hesitantly. He was filled with worry and anxiety, knowing that they would have to leave Toriel, after everything she had done. "Are you ready to… go?"

"Wait." Frisk said, and she opened the closet to pull out the two cloaks they had found. They were light blue and had a weird symbol on the back of a winged circle above three triangles. They put them on, and walked out of their room for the last time.

As they approached the living room, AJ looked at Frisk, trying to get an idea of what she was feeling. She just looked sad, she looked sorry for what they were about to do. He didn't want to do it at all. He didn't know how he was supposed to look at Toriel's face and see the sadness and probably betrayal written all over it. He looked over at the stairs as they stepped out of the hall side by side. Part of his dream came back to him, he remembered those stairs. He still didn't know why he was shaking, but he knew they weren't supposed to go down there.

Frisk stopped and looked where he was staring at. "Is that where we're gonna go?" She asked.

"I think so." He answered.

They walked closer to the living room, and suddenly something took hold of him. He panicked, and before he knew it, he closed a large door and spun around.

Only to see a smiling face.

"Wow… You're a real _coward_ , you know that?" Flowey mocked, standing there in the middle of the opening in the cave.

The human glared at him and growled before quickly reaching for his machete. He was stopped when massive vines shot up from the ground next to him and coiled around him, lifting him into the air. Flowey rose up on a large root system so he was level with him. The flower stared at him with sharp teeth and black eyes.

"You couldn't look that woman in the eyes as you betrayed her hospitality and **left her**!? You couldn't stand there and see the sadness in her eyes!? You couldn't stand there and take whatever **anger** she would have let out on you!?" Flowey shouted and a sharp vine came up and prodded the boy's chest. "I don't really think cowards like you deserve to _live_ , **do you**?" He/it asked.

"You need to aim a little higher…" The human said emotionlessly and didn't even pull his head up.

Flowey looked a bit surprised for a moment before chuckling. "Heh. I've been there, buddy." He used the sharp vine to push the kid's head up. The human's brown eyes stared at his own. It wasn't a blank stare, it was… almost an uninterested stare. For someone with a red soul, he didn't seem all that determined. "Fine. I'll make this quick." Before the vine struck, the sound of the door behind them creaking interrupted them. Flowey's eyes widened in panic before he disappeared into the ground and AJ was released. He landed on his feet. The boy turned around just in time to catch a glimpse of Toriel's hand before the door shut again and Frisk stood there.

Frisk walked up to him, but he rushed past her towards the door. "No! Toriel, wait!" He shouted. He ran into the door and collapsed onto his knees. "Toriel… please… I'm so sorry…" His voice shook. "I'm sorry I'm such a coward… I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye. I was just scared. I couldn't bear to see your heart broken after everything you'd done for us." He couldn't stop tears from flowing down his cheeks. "Please! I'm so sorry Toriel! I'm sorry I couldn't do what I know I should have done! Please… please answer me! Please forgive me! I'm so sorry!..." He wanted to beg her to open the door, so he could truly say goodbye, but he choked on his words and struggled to breathe. He could feel Frisk rubbing his back and he wanted to thank her.

"It is ok…" Toriel's voice came through the door. She sounded hesitant, and he thought he voice might have been shaking a little. "I understand… Your worry just shows that you are a kind person… I am not angry with you."

AJ looked up at the door in shock and ignored his tears. "I… I don't… know what to say…" He said slowly.

"Frisk told me about your quest…" Toriel said. "You have a long and dangerous journey ahead of you… please be safe. I hope you both find the right home… Goodbye, AJ."

Those words still stung, because he never got to face her and look her in the eyes, but he stared at the door as if he was looking right through it and staring at Toriel. "Goodbye… Toriel…" The goodbye truly did little to comfort him and he fell into tears again. He had totally failed. He had ran away and he never got to make things right, never would now. Frisk continued to hug him and try to comfort him until he calmed down. Once he calmed down, he was certain that the magic was affecting him. He never cried at any level remotely near that, and he had lost control of his anger multiple times already. It made no sense since it contradicted what Toriel had said, but the magic was definitely affecting his emotions.

He still wasn't sure if crying like that had felt good or bad yet.

Eventually Frisk got him up and moving again once he wiped away his tears, and they continued forward. They opened the even larger door before them and were welcomed with a gust of cold air.

"Well… let's go see the rest of the Underground." Frisk said as they wrapped their cloaks around them, pulled up their hoods, and stepped into the snow.

* * *

 **Soo… yeah. No Toriel fight like I said would happen, thanks to my brain's remarkable ability to randomly decide to generate so much content that I had to change my plans. I was certain there was no way I could think of anything more to write before I started this, and yet, here we are. I suppose it kind of makes a bit more sense. Toriel wouldn't want them to leave, but she would know that as long as they stayed together, they might be fine. Besides, with AJ already out the door, it's not like she could just keep Frisk there.**

 **Oh well, these things happen when you write things as they come to you. That's why I need to stop making promises about what happens next. XD**

 **I really should probably work on another story, but I also might want to write this next part. I mean, I can safely say that we'll get to see Sans next, and I want to see how that encounter goes! Basically, don't be surprised if it takes two or more weeks for the next chapter, but I don't assume that I won't post the next chapter within a week.**

 **Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed and can forgive me for that change of plans.**

 **Hope you all have a great week.**

* * *

 **In other news, my friend has slowly started playing Undertale. He named the fallen human "JONCNA".**

 **DO DO DO DOOO!**


	6. Pun

**You know what? SCREW IT! I DON'T WANT TO WORK ON THE OTHER PROJECTS! I mean I do, but I lose interest the moment I try to write about it, SO SCREW IT! LET'S JUST CONTINUE THIS FIC! NO SCREWING AROUND WITH OTHER PROJECTS! NGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!**

 **Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.6

* * *

"Are you okay?"

*Sniffle* "Not right now…"

"Hey, it's okay. We'll see her again someday."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because I can feel it. Now come on, get up. Toriel said that this is the way out.

Well… let's go see the rest of the Underground."

They stepped out onto the snow and the first thing Frisk noted was how cold it _wasn't_. Her whole body felt warm from the cloak she was wearing. 'It must be magical!' She thought. She looked to her guardian and saw he looked confused as well. 'His must be magical too!'

"Huh. They must put magic in their clothes." AJ figured, and the girl nodded in agreement.

Before them was a straight path covered in snow and surrounded by trees. Both humans wondered how there was snow and trees underground, but simply assumed it was more magic.

Frisk took AJ's hand and they began walking forward. As they walked down the path, the smaller human noted that he seemed to be holding her hand in a slightly different way. She wasn't sure how to describe it, but it felt… off. But when she looked up at him, he smiled back at her, and those mixed messages confused her. Speaking of things that confused her, he had said "So just worry about yourself." Why would she worry about herself if he's already worrying so much about her? It only makes sense that she would worry about him if he's gonna worry about her! If he's so focused on her wellbeing, she'll focus on his.

He was kind of weird though. Not the mean weird like kids at school would say, but like… He worries about others a lot it seems, and she had learned that really good people who learn to care about themselves end up caring a lot about others too. But… he said he doesn't care about himself, yet he really cares about her health and making sure she's safe and happy. That didn't match what she had been told at all. Did that make him an even nicer person because he cares about others a lot? Or did that make him less? Not caring about yourself might make it easier to care about others… so maybe that means he's better! Because then he can do more nice things for other people!

"Hey, AJ?" Frisk started, and her fellow human glanced at her as they slowly walked through the snow and stepped over a large branch that had fallen. "Since you worry so much about me, how about I just worry about you?"

Her friend looked at her oddly for a moment. "Umm… sure." He answered with a shrug.

"No! I'm serious!" She said strongly, getting his attention. "I'm gonna do what you do! Not worry about myself so I can focus on worrying about you!"

Her explanation surprised him a bit. He gave a clear nod in the hopes of satisfying her since his noncommittal shrug sure didn't. She nodded back, satisfied. The older human looked forward again, but Frisk noted that he wasn't smiling like she was. Despite that, she felt his hand grip hers in a slightly different way and she giggled happily. It felt right again, and now she knew what had been off. There was more emotion in his grip again, and she felt that was a good thing.

They approached a large wooden gate, though the bars were too far apart to stop anything human sized. Suddenly they both stopped when they felt crunching snow directly behind them. Frisk felt AJ's grip tighten and that worried her. The older human leaned his head back quickly to get the hood off, he needs his full vision if he's going to fight.

"Humans… don't you know how to greet a new pal?" A voice spoke from behind them.

The taller human's right hand was suddenly on his weapon's hilt and had pulled the weapon half out of its sheathe while glaring over his shoulder.

"Clearly not." The voice deadpanned. "Little one… turn around, and shake my hand."

The girl looked up at her fellow human with worry. He hesitantly nodded. "Do it." She very hesitantly let go of his hand, suddenly finding it difficult to be certain this person would be a friend. She reached out and saw their outstretched hand and took it. A sudden sound made AJ half jump out of his skin, before realization made him lose all sense of fear as he slowly looked over his shoulder with an angry squint. 'You've got to be kidding me…'

Meanwhile, Frisk was laughing.

"Hehe… the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick." Said the skeleton standing before her. "It's always funny." He said with a wink, making her giggle again. He saw the other human didn't seem to like his immature joke, but ignored that detail.

The skeleton stood at her height, maybe ever so slightly taller. He wore a blue hoodie over a white shirt, black basketball shorts, and slippers, _pink_ slippers. His eyes were two black eye sockets with white dots in them for pupils.

The skeleton's wide smile grew a bit wider before he opened his mouth to speak. "Anyways, you're humans, right?" Frisk nodded immediately and the older one just shrugged. "That's hilarious. I'm sans, sans the skeleton."

"I'm Frisk!" Said the hooded human happily.

The other human paused in hesitation for a moment. Here was a monster that seemed a bit like Toriel. He wasn't attacking them, at least not yet. "I go by AJ."

"Nice to meet cha both!" sans greeted. "I'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now, but… y'know… I don't really care about capturing anybody." The skeleton said with a shrug. "Now my brother, Papyrus, he's a human hunting _fanatic_." He stated before looking over the girl's shoulder. "Hey, actually, I think that's him over there." He saw the humans, specifically the older one, look worried. "Don't worry, I have an idea. Come with me, quickly."

The monster and two humans quickly went through the gate and walked over to an opening in the forest, where there was a small station and a… lamp?

Sans walked over behind the strange object. "Stand right… _here_ , behind this tall, conveniently shaped lamp."

"What!?" AJ whispered loudly, looking at the skeleton like he was crazy.

"I know asking you to trust me right now is asking a lot, but please, trust me." The monster requested.

He walked back into the middle of the path in the clearing while the two humans stood in the spot where sans told them too. They looked up and noticed the shape of the lamp and quickly realized what they needed to do. Frisk climbed up onto AJ's shoulders, and then, they stood still.

A large skeleton quickly came barreling in and stopped in a place where he should have easily been able to see the humans. He was tall, taller than the male human by a couple inches. He wore a white torso piece, a red scarf, red gloves, blue briefs, and long red boots.

"Sup, bro?" sans greeted casually with a smile that almost seemed plastered onto his skull.

"YOU KNOW WHAT 'SUP,' BROTHER!" Papyrus shouted, annoyed. "IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T… RECALIBRATED. YOUR. PUZZLES! YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING!?"

"Staring at these lamps. They're really cool." Sans answered casually while motioning towards the lamp and the two humans. "Do you wanna look at em?"

Papyrus stomped the ground angrily. "NO! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!? I WANT TO BE READY!" His emotions shifted suddenly and we was now enthusiastic. "I WILL BE THE ONE, I _MUST_ BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN!" Then he suddenly stuck a dramatic pose and his scarf blew in the wind. "THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS… WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! RESPECT… RECOGNITION… I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO, BE MY, FRIEND! I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING!"

Frisk was trying to hold back her giggles and AJ was attempting to silently scold her into shutting up until sans spoke and they both froze again. "Maybe these lamps will help you?" He suggested.

Papyrus grew frustrated and was angrily stomping the snowy ground again. "SANS! YOU ARE NOT HELPING, YOU LAZY BONES! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE!" He stopped and pointed angrily at his brother. "YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY!"

Sans raised his boney hands in an attempt to relax his fellow skeleton. "Hey, take it easy. I've gotten a _ton_ of work done today…" He winked. "A skele- _ton_." He spun to his right and winked at a crowd that wasn't there while both humans were struggling to contain their laughter. Papyrus was likely too angry to hear them.

"SANS!"

"Come on… you're smiling." Sans pointed out teasingly.

"I AM AND I HATE IT!" Papyrus shouted.

'Oh god! This is too perfect! Holding back my laughter is torture!' The older human thought.

Papyrus let out a loud sigh… as in he just said "SIGH" loudly. "WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME, HAVE TO DO SO MUCH JUST TO GET SOME RECOGNITION?" Despite not shouting, the skeleton was still ridiculously loud, such a large contradiction to his laid back, quiet, and deep voiced brother.

"Wow… sounds like you're really working yourself…" He glanced at the humans and saw them falling apart and struggling to put themselves back together. He saw the older one begging with his eyes to stop his pun before it happened, but he couldn't help it. "down to the bone."

"AAAAAAAAGH!" Papyrus groaned, covering his face with both his hands.

While the skeleton turned and posed for the non-existent crowd to his right, the very much existing crowd to his left fell over and clutched their sides in pain as they both laughed, and giggled, and wheezed.

"Would you look at that… even the lamps like my puns." Sans commented to his brother with another wink.

Papyrus slowly wiped his hands off his face in exasperation. "UGH, WHATEVER. I WILL ATTEND TO MY OWN PUZZLES. AS FOR YOUR WORK…" He smirked. "PUT A LITTLE MORE… _BACKBONE_ INTO IT! NYEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH!" His laugh grew quiet as he victoriously left the way he came.

"Well, I think that went well." Sans commented as he stuck his hands back in his pockets and grinned as he watched the humans lying on the ground, trying to catch their breath.

"Well, you and your brother… sure have… an interesting… relationship." The boy commented as he gasped for air.

The skeleton chuckled a bit in agreement. "Hey, are you two related?"

"Why do you ask?" AJ asked, looking confused.

"Brown hair, same smile, same clear love for puns." The monster listed off.

"Ah. No, we're not related." The human answered before he and Frisk finally started to stand up.

'Fair enough. Frisk's eyes are much brighter than his anyways.' "You two just… happened upon the underground together?" Sans asked.

"Actually, yeah. We had never met before we fell here." The boy said.

"You two sure _seem_ like friends." Sans pointed out.

"We are!" Frisk cut in. "We're looking for a home right now."

"And you decided to check down a mountain?" The skeleton asked with what appeared to be an eyebrow raised in amusement even though he's a skeleton and therefore has no eyebrows.

The smaller human chuckled in embarrassment. "Um… no. I fell here by accident and AJ saved me."

"Hm. So you're both stuck down here and looking for a home…" Sans looked thoughtful, which made the humans a bit hopeful. He saw their looks and grinned more. "Good luck with that." They frowned at him, and he laughed. "You seem like nice humans, so…I kind of feel bad bothering ya, but… could you do me a favor?"

"Depends." The older human said simply and squinted at the monster.

"My brother's been kind of down lately, and he's never seen a human before, so seeing you two might just make his day." He understood the look of hesitation on the older one. "Don't worry, he's not dangerous. *Chuckle* Even if he tries to be."

"He's gonna try and capture us though, like he said." AJ pointed out.

"And like _I_ said, he's not dangerous. You'll deal with some puzzles, play some games… it should be fun, really." Sans figured.

"If you say so." The older human said reluctantly. The only reason he was ok with this was because sans seemed nice, and he was funny. This skeleton didn't care to catch them and his brother supposedly couldn't. More proof that these monsters were just like humans and not just monsters.

"We can do that!" Frisk said with her usual smile.

Sans smiled back. "Great. Thanks a million. I'll be up ahead." He then proceeded to go the wrong way.

"Um… alright." The boy said, confused.

"I wonder what puzzles we'll have to do!" The younger human wondered as they started walking onward down the path.

"I can't imagine that Papyrus guy can make very good puzzles." AJ deadpanned. "I mean he thought we were a lamp!"

Suddenly, going into a dark underground forest covered in snow seemed a lot less scary to them.

* * *

"We'll make it through whatever we face, because we have DETERMINATION!" Frisk shouted confidently as they entered a clearing in the forest along the path.

"Yeah! Getting through this forest will be snow problem!" The taller human said, making Frisk giggle.

"Haha! Did sans's skelepunyness rub off on you?" The girl asked with a grin.

AJ chuckled. "Well, he brought my puny side out a bit." He admitted. "Wait, why is there a random box here?"

Both humans looked down at the random large wooden box at the edge of the clearing.

"Should we see what's inside?" The younger human asked.

"Well, it doesn't look like anyone owns it, it looks like it was just randomly left here. Go ahead." AJ said.

Frisk opened the box and pulled out a single pink glove. "A glove?"

"Well, I guess that's yours now." The brown-eyed one said with a shrug.

"What, you don't want to wear a pink glove?" The girl asked with an amused smirk. Her friend simply chuckled in response, so she put on the glove. She heard rustling in the forest behind them and they both turned around to see a large monster that had legs like a chicken standing before them and staring them down.

"So… you got a name for this one?" AJ asked as he worriedly stood in the shadow of the large headed monster.

"Snowdrake!" Frisk decided instantly.

Snowdrake shouted and threw its large head up as three magic sickles appeared at its side and flew at the humans. The older one was quick to unsheathe his machete and deflect one before jumping in front of Frisk and deflecting the other two. "Any brilliant ideas on how to be nice to this one?" The boy asked, holding his weapon in front of him and staring down the drake.

"Umm…" Suddenly, two sickles appeared, one on each side of them, and forced the humans to jump away from each other. The humans split apart further and jumped around the clearing as sickles continued to attack them.

The older human jumped back to avoid an attack before destroying two with his blade. He hopped over another sickle before meeting one head on. He destroyed it with his machete only for it to split into five that flew above him before crashing down on him. He rolled to the side and avoided them.

Frisk cartwheeled and avoided three sickles before jumping high into the air to get away from the monster. Snowdrake looked up at her and personally sent magic ice sickles after her while passively throwing more at AJ from random directions. The girl felt a burst of confidence and gripped her branch tightly. She swung it like a sword and the magic attacks shattered on contact with it as if it were a sharp blade. She landed on her feet and noticed the monster was looking a bit hesitant.

"D-Do you guys wanna hear a joke?" Snowdrake asked hesitantly, realizing fighting wasn't working and looking for a way out of this situation.

Frisk looked past the monster and saw her friend was surrounded by sickles that were attacking him one at a time. He had to spin around in order to keep up with and destroy each attack as it came at him.

"Yeah! Sure! I'll take a joke over YOU ATTACKING ME!" AJ shouted angrily as he deflected more attacks.

The monster turned around and saw its magic still attacking on its own. "Oh! Sorry." All the magic attacks faded away just as one slashed the boy's back and knocked him face first into the snow. He dug his fist into the ground before looking up and glaring at the monster.

Frisk quickly got in front of the monster. "No, don't!"

He let out a growl in frustration before taking deep breaths and forcing himself to try and calm down, even going as far as burying his face in the snow to cool his heated anger. Frisk was surprised and proud to see him calm down, although he still looked very uncomfortable when he finally stood up.

"H-hey, I'm sure you'll be fine." The snowdrake spoke up. "After all, ice magic is _snow_ problem, right? You can just walk it off, you have legs after all." The large monster was strangely giving off an awkward teen vibe. "J-just eat some macaroni and _freeze_ and you'll be good."

The fact that he was stressing the puns so hard made it impossible for the older human to laugh, but Frisk didn't seem to have any trouble.

"See? Laughs! Dad was wrong!" Snowdrake shouted before flying back into the forest.

"Well… at least some of his puns are okay…" AJ deadpanned.

"Well, at least you kept your _cool_ even through the bad puns and you didn't give him the _cold shoulder_." The younger human said with a huge grin, which got her to laugh and her friend to chuckle.

"Now _those_ are cool puns!" AJ said with a smile. "Way better than 'macaroni and freeze'." He groaned. "That one was just bad…"

"Excuse me?..."

The tall human spun around and saw that the large monster was where it was seconds ago, looming over them. It didn't look happy.

"SO, AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE…" Papyrus trailed off when an ice sickle flew over his head. "WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS THAT!?" He and his brother looked down the path as loads more magic sickles flew towards them.

""AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHH"" Both humans were running for their lives as the Snowdrake chased them down, sending magic attack after magic attack at them.

"This won't be funny either!" Snowdrake shouted angrily.

"WHAT!? ARE THOSE HUMANS!?" Papyrus asked before jumping in their path. "HALT, HUMANS! I, THE GREAT-"

" _NOT NOW, PAPYRUS!_ " AJ screamed and jumped at the large skeleton before ramming his shoulder into him to throw the monster out of the way and keep running.

Sans blinked twice and sweatdropped as the two humans ran down the path without even stopping to say hi. It was as if they didn't even see him. He then saw the Snowdrake about to run past him and he stepped in front of it and tried to calm it down.

Meanwhile the humans continued to run through the forest path, briefly looking over their shoulders to see if the monster was still after them. In that moment that the boy looked over his shoulder, his foot slipped out from under him. "Whoa!" He was able to recover and quickly realized he was sliding across a frozen lake. As he slid down, a familiar skeleton stepped out from the forest. The skeleton's eye sockets widened when a tall human suddenly slid right past him. "Oh! Ice to see ya, Sans!"

"WhoooOooOa!" The skeleton turned to his left and saw where the younger voice was coming from. The smaller hooded human slid past him as well. "Hey, Sans! Don't mind us. We're just-" Her hand caught a redundant sign in the middle of the lake that said "Warning. Ice." and used it to spin around before using her momentum to continue on. "-swinging on by!" The girl finished with a wave as she slid away and caught up to her fellow human.

Sans chuckled. "Well, that was something."

* * *

 **Alright, I think I'll end it here before I end up taking three weeks to post this.**

 **Pardon my puns. I love puns and all, but I'm terrible at coming up with any. I'm not like sans, or my mom, or someone else who actively thinks of puns whenever they can.**

 **Oh! This fic recently reached 2000 views! Cool! I'm glad people are enjoying this!**

 **Also, two things, real quick.**

 **One, shout out to anyone who is enjoying this but is a guest and can't follow or fav. I'm sure there's a few of you out there.**

 **Second, if anyone is liking this but hasn't followed, cause I know some people do that, including me, you totally should. It would just take a few moments and it would give the writer some positive reinforcement, and who doesn't want positive reactions to what they do? Regardless, i'll keep writing for you all.**

 **Anyway, hope you have a great week. Really, I do.**

* * *

 **Update: My friend has yet to be hit in his playthrough, BECAUSE THEY CAN'T C HIM! OOOOOOOOH!**

 **I'm joking obviously. He's been killed like three times at this point.**

 **I refuse to let the John Cena meme die.**


	7. The Electricity Maze

**So… that Overwatch open beta… it's… FUN. (He says with a strained voice) So. Much. Fun. I'm beginning to hate multiplayer only games. The fun level is totally dependent on your team NOT BEING A TOTAL PIECE OF-… sigh… At least it isn't Siege, at least I can respawn… As if wanting to play that didn't delay my writing enough, when I quit the game, its usually because I'm freaking angry, and I can't write when I'm angry. Thankfully, some Undertale music vids can slowly cheer me up enough to write. I'll manage, somehow.**

 **Enough whining, you all want a story. Well, I'll see what I can do!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(Warning that you honestly should be expecting already: I will be taking some… "liberties" with the personalities of characters. This is an AU after all, I can change things)**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.7

* * *

The two humans ran through the forest for a short while longer till they looked back and noticed that they weren't being attacked, or followed. They saw no signs of movement in the forest behind them.

"Huh. I think we lost it." AJ noted. "That's what I get for having an opinion…" He deadpanned.

"Hey, it's okay." Frisk spoke up. "Not everyone can take bad things that well. I'm sure he's real nice otherwise."

The boy let out a sigh before starting to walk forward down the path again. "Well, you be positive, I'll be realistic." He deadpanned.

"You'll be _dead_ in a moment, humans!" Said a dog as it jumped in front of them from a station nearby, dual daggers at the ready. It wore a pink muscle shirt with a dog on the front, and leopard-print stretch pants. It also stood on its hind legs. The dog growled in annoyance and nearly bit right through the dog treat in its mouth. "No! Where did they go!? Did they stop moving!? I can only see moving things"! The dog said angrily.

The humans noted this and stayed frozen while glancing over at the station and reading the sign on the station that said 'Doggo'.

"Only one way to know for sure." Doggo said before it's right dagger turned blue. It swung horizontally and the blade rapidly grew in length. Frisk remained frozen and let the attack go through her while the older human jumped and front flipped just in time to avoid the attack. The black and white dog's eyes widened and it lunged at the boy quickly. Despite how fast he now moved, AJ wasn't confident in his unsheathing speed, so he jumped back from the blades instead.

The dog was incredibly fast and the older human had to backpedal as fast as he could just to avoid getting slashed. He could only retreat for so long and he ended up slipping in the snow and falling backwards. He saw an opportunity and went with it, turning his fall into a flip and kicking the dog in the jaw, knocking it into the air, before going into a handstand. He quickly froze before the dog recovered and looked at him again. He mentally panicked as he had never been able to do a handstand before and didn't know how long he would be able to keep it up.

"Agh…" Doggo noted the dog treat that had flown out of his mouth and fallen into the snow. "What a waste. You'll pay for that, wherever you are." One of his daggers turned blue again.

"Please don't move." Frisk begged. She noticed her friend give her a look that, even though he was upside down, could be clearly seen by her as an 'Are you crazy?' look. "Trust me, please."

The fact that she was pleading for him to hold still so much made him pause in confusion. He came out of his thoughts and realized that Doggo was mid swing with his long magic blue blade and he had no time to dodge anymore, so he just froze and prayed. The blade went right through him painlessly and he stayed frozen more because of surprise than any willingness to maintain his handstand.

Doggo's eyes widened in surprise before taking a few slow steps back as he eyed his surroundings suspiciously. "W-where did they go?... I know I saw them! I did, didn't I?" He suddenly was very unsure of himself. "Was it really my imagination? If so…" He rubbed his jaw. "My imagination sure hurt."

AJ blinked, and suddenly Frisk was standing at the monster's station, right behind him. "What!? How did you-!?" The boy whispered. The girl put a finger to her lips with a smile before she lightly pet the dog.

"What!? I've been pet!?" The dog shouted, shocked.

"What are you doing!?" The boy in an awkward position whispered.

Frisk couldn't hold back a small giggle and she pet the dog again.

"Where's that coming from!?" Doggo asked and spun around to look at his station, where Frisk froze while smiling.

The boy didn't hesitate to use this chance to collapse onto the snowy ground and give his arms a rest. The monster spun around at the sound and saw nothing. The smol human managed to keep her giggles silent, leaving Doggo alone in the snowy forest.

"S-something pet me… something I can't see…" The monster said, legs shaking. "I'm gonna need some dog treats for this." Frisk shocked her fellow human by kissing the monster on the cheek suddenly. The monster let out a confused noise and jumped back into his station before peeking his head out again. "…I'm really gonna need dog treats for this…" He scanned the area one more time before sinking down out of view, shortly followed by light smoke. The two humans remained still for a few more seconds till they decided it was safe to move. They made as little noise as possible as they moved down the path till they were sure that they were far enough away that they wouldn't be heard.

"Bye Doggo." Frisk whispered.

"What kind of dog can't see things that aren't moving!?" AJ finally asked.

Frisk laughed in response. "I don't know, but he was cute!"

Her friend got in her face and poked her chest. "And what kind of person pets something that's trying to kill them!?" He asked exasperatedly.

The younger human responded with more laughter initially. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help it! Like I said, he was cute!"

"He was smoking a dog treat…" The taller human deadpanned.

"So? He was still cute." Frisk argued. She noticed her guardian was not satisfied with her answer. "I'm sorry, okay? I just… when we come across some of these monsters, I suddenly _really_ want to do something! And I can kind of sort of feel that what I want to do is what we're supposed to do!" The girl explained.

AJ tilted his head in confusion at her explanation and she suddenly wanted to pet him again. "That's… really weird. I wonder if that's part of the video game aspect of everything down here?" The boy looked around while deep in thought, unaware of the urges his fellow human was currently holding back. "Hmm… Hm. Hmm? Hmm… You mentioned sparing." He noted, pointing in her direction, making her go stiff and quickly wipe the strained look off her face. "Is this supposed to be some kind of sparing game then? I wonder if fighting is an option… Well no, of course it is, because in the end this is real life and I have the option of defending myself." 'I sure was able to kick the monster pretty hard after all, and it seemed to hurt him.'

"I've never played a sparing video game before." The child commented.

"Yeah it doesn't sound _nearly_ as fun as blowing stuff up, or shooting stuff, or slashing stuff, but the option is nice since these are real things and we can't just avoid the consequences like you could in a video game." He responded before gasping. "Unless we have SAVE POINTS!" He shouted dramatically before losing his excitement. "But we can't logically have those because we can't have a HUD."

"A HUD?" Frisk asked.

"The digital stuff you see on your screen." AJ answered. "Like you ammo count, and stuff. In any real life video game fanfics I read, the HUD would be a part of your vision or it would be floating in front of you." He remembered. "And I sure as heck haven't seen any of those, so yeah, we're out of luck. The other reason I think we won't have HUD or save points is that instead of you having a HUD and options for what to do, you just have an innate want to do the right thing so we can spare a monster. That way everything makes sense and there's no glaring lack of reality with a HUD or whatever. The video game mechanics are still there, clearly, but otherwise things stay like real life down here." He said. "Does that all make sense? Cause it does to me, but I know that my logical thinking is usually different from others and-"

"No, it's ok. It makes sense to me." The girl spoke up with a light smile.

"Oh! Good. I knew you were a smart one!" The tall human exclaimed. "Smart people are almost as rare as nice people! You're a rare person!" His fellow human smiled and blushed at the compliment and he resisted the urge to hug the child. "In fact, you're so rare, that you're the protagonist!"

It was Frisk's turn to tilt her head in confusion, though she mentally noted she never did that before. "I am?"

"Yep! You wouldn't just be given the knowledge of what to do if you weren't the all-important main character." He explained. "Lucky bastard…" He mumbled with a smirk, making his friend laugh.

The girl looked up at him with her usual smile and lights in her eyes. "Well don't think that means that you aren't important too, ok!?"

The older human suddenly felt really awkward and didn't know how to respond. He pulled up his hood in case he was blushing and turned away from her. "L-let's keep moving, eh?" He suggested, trying to play it off.

Behind him, Frisk was confused and a bit worried. She walked up to him and walked beside him for a few paces, trying to see his face to no avail. She knew when to leave someone alone, and simply did what she could to comfort him without bothering him. Since she noticed that he feels better when he knows she's safe, she hesitantly took his hand again. His grip was a bit tighter than normal, and she wasn't sure what to make of that. She _felt_ like it was a good thing, but was a bit unsure.

The path opened up to another frozen lake, and the young human had an idea. "Want to go sliding around on the ice?"

"Can't we just keep moving?" He asked. "I'd rather not get hurt by falling on the ice."

"But we slid across one lake just a few minutes ago!" Frisk pointed out.

"Yes, we slid _across it_. We didn't play around on it. Also, we were kind of running from that drake monster thing and had no time to try and go around the lake." AJ countered.

A familiar skeleton came sliding over from the left side of the lake. "Hey guys! Hope you don't mind me sliding in."

"Hey, sans!" Frisk greeted as the skeleton came to a stop as he slid off the ice and onto the snow.

"Well, unlike most other monsters here, it's actually ice to see you." AJ commented.

"Well, I'm glad you both aren't giving me the cold shoulder just because I'm a talking skeleton." Sans said with a bow.

"I'm glad you aren't attacking us like most other monsters!" The older human complained.

"Hey, most of us are pretty _cool_ once you get to know us." Sans said with a wink.

Frisk giggled. "As long as you don't all chill us to the _bone_." The three of them laughed.

"Hey, what color would you say that ice is?" sans asked suddenly.

"Um… Blue?"

"Blue?"

"Correct!" Sans said with a snap of his fingers. "You know what else is blue? Blue attacks!"

"Well I mean it's in the name." The tall human commented.

Sans glanced down the trail. "You guys must have ran into that mutt by now, so surely you must know what to do against blue attacks, right?" He asked.

"Don't move and they won't hurt you!" Frisk answered.

"Hehe. Good, you get it!" Sans said. "If either of you ever need help remembering, just think about blue stop signs."

"Blue stop signs?" AJ parroted.

"Yeah. Stop signs are normally red, right?" Sans asked rhetorically.

"No but sans-"

"And you normally stop at a stop sign…"

"Sans-"

"Right?"

"Yes, but-"

"So just picture a blue stop sign instead."

"Yes _I know what you meant, sans_." The boy said, annoyed. The skeleton simply chuckled, and the human sighed and facepalmed, making Frisk and sans chuckle again.

"Hehe. I'm just warning you, because my brother has a very special attack." Sans explained. "But as long as you know how to deal with blue attacks, you should be fine." The humans didn't say anything else, so he figured he'd move them along. "Well, I won't keep you two any longer. My bro will get impatient if you take much longer."

"See you later, sans!" Frisk waved before jumping onto the lake and sliding across it.

"Frisk! We were supposed to go around it!" The older human grumbled before glancing at the skeleton. "Bye, sans." He jumped onto the lake and began sliding across.

Frisk slid onto the snow and laughed happily. She turned around just in time to see her friend slide to a stop on his butt.

"Ow…"

"Hehe! Are you okay?" Frisk asked, reaching a hand out.

"Yeah… but that really hurt." He said as he took her hand. She tried to pull him up, and he tried to get up himself, but he had no traction on the ice and simply slipped again, falling back and pulling her with him. She landed next to him and they both began to slide back across the lake. Rather than struggle against their momentum, AJ turned and gave her a look. "You just _haaaad_ to go across the lake, didn't you? We couldn't go around the lake! NO! You just HAD to go the dangerous way! Now I got hurt, _and_ we're taking even longer!"

The male human was mentally thankful that she at least looked embarrassed. "Sorry… I didn't know this would happen." Frisk said.

They slid to a stop and got off the ice. "*Sigh* Of course you didn't, how could you?" He realized. "We're going around this time." He said, taking her hand and pulling her along.

"Ok ok, that's fair." She conceded softly.

Once they got around the lake peacefully, they stepped into an open area and were greeted with the two skeletons again.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?" Papyrus asked his brother.

"Around." Sans answered simply.

"UGH." Papyrus knew he wasn't going to get much more than that. "WHAT WERE YOU DOING, THEN!?"

"Now that's not really important, is it?" Sans responded jokingly.

"UGH! YOU WERE PROBABLY JUST NAPPING AGAIN, YOU LAZYBONES! JUST LIKE YOU WERE ALL LAST NIGHT!" Papyrus guessed.

"Uh…I think that's called sleeping." Sans pointed out.

"EXCUSES, EXCUSES!" Papyrus shouted. He turned to his left and noticed the two humans. "AH! THE HUMANS ARE HERE! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM HERE TO CAPTURE YOU! ONCE I DO, I WILL SURELY BECOME A NEW MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD!" He pointed at them and his scarf blew around dramatically in the wind. "YOU HUMANS DO NOT HAVE A CHANCE AGAINST MY PUZZLES! IN FACT, I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS PUZZLE BEFORE YOU… QUITE SHOCKING! FOR YOU SEE, THIS, IS THE INVISIBLE ELECTRICICTY MAZE!" He pulled out a small orb from an unseen pocket. "IF YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE, THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP! CONTINUE ONLY IF YOU DARE!"

The two humans looked at each other, and they looked really confused. "Wait… how is the orb gonna zap us from there?" Frisk asked.

"I… think it'll shoot lighting at us or something." AJ guessed.

The area between the humans and monsters was cleared of snow, it was clear the maze was in front of them. Besides the orb, this seemed like quite a puzzle. Quite an unfair one, in the boy's opinion. "I don't even know where we start!" He complained. He looked around and nothing was giving him any clues. "Screw it!" He marched forward, only to hit a wall. The moment he hit the wall, the orb went off and the tall skeleton was zapped with a large amount of electricity.

Papyrus blinked twice in confusion before stomping the ground angrily. "SANS! WHAT DID YOU DO!?"

"Bro, I think the humans need to hold the orb." Sans explained.

"OH! OKAY!" Papyrus said, suddenly smiling brightly. He walked over to the humans, perfectly walking through the invisible maze without being harmed. "HERE YOU GO!" He threw the orb into the air and quickly ran back through the maze before it fell back down. It landed in the smaller human's hands. "ALRIGHT, YOU CAN GO AHEAD NOW!" He said happily, as if he was just playing a game with friends now.

The two humans glanced at each other with straight faces. They were able to hold the look for about two seconds before grinning.

""Oh no! Whatever will we do!"" They said like bad actors as they started walking through the maze.

"Which way should we go, Frisk!?"

"I don't know! I'm soooo lost! Let's go this way!"

"Man! This maze sure is unfair! I don't know _how_ we haven't been shocked yet!"

"We must be getting reaaaaaly lucky!"

The two humans eventually made it out, but only because of the favor of the gods… AKA the skeleton's footprints. "INCREDIBLE! YOU SLIPPERY SNAILS!" Said a stunned Papyrus.

The two humans were standing as rigid as soldiers saluting. Sans however was the only skeleton that noticed their shaking lips and quivering bodies.

"YOU SOLVED IT SO EASILY… TOO EASILY!" Papyrus noted. "HOWEVER! THIS NEXT PUZZLE WILL NOT BE SO EASY! IT WAS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER, SANS!" He said, moving out of the way so they could see his brother, who bowed for a moment. "YOU WILL SURELY BE CONFOUNDED! I KNOW I AM! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!" He suddenly slid away backwards even though there was no snow.

Once he was gone, both humans fell apart again and let out the laughter they had been holding back since "YOU SLIPPERY SNAILS!" Frankly sans couldn't hold back a few laughs himself as he watched the humans roll on the floor once again. Just when he thought they had recovered, AJ wiggled his fingers at Frisk and mimicked Papyrus's voice surprisingly well. "You slippery snail!" This caused both of them to fall over laughing again, though not for nearly as long.

Eventually the humans could breathe again and they both stood up, grinning like idiots, even though it hurt. "Thanks for doing this." Sans thanked. "Papy seems to be having fun. And, well," He winked. "I think it's safe to say we're all having fun, too." They all shared a chuckle.

"Hehe. Well, I'm glad your brother doesn't seem to be bad to the bone." The older human commented.

"Heh. My brother doesn't have a mean bone in his body." Sans said.

Frisk gained a concerned look. "Do you two ever feel bonely here? Or are there many other monsters here?"

Sans chuckled. "Oh there are _plenty_ of other monsters here. Just wait, once you get through the forest and reach Snowdin... well… you'll see." He said with a wink. "Anyway, best get a move on."

"Well, see you shortly then, Mr. Teleporting skeleton." AJ said casually as he started to walk away.

Frisk took her fellow human's hand and waved goodbye. "Bye!"

* * *

 **You guys are awesome! Over 40 follows and 30 favs!? Damn! That's pretty good in my opinion. It's certainly more than I expected to get! We'll call it a milestone! Though… I'm not sure what the next milestone would be… Eh, screw milestones. I'm just glad you all are enjoying this.**

 **I gotta say I'm enjoying the story myself. All I thought when I started this was "Fall down with Frisk." And then I went from there and now this 'teach-each-other-things' friendship is happening while they search for the right place to live. That would also be why all the depressing stuff has been brought up without me warning you first, cause I didn't know it would happen either! I honestly do not think I'm that great of a writer, so I'm a bit impressed with myself so far with the things I've come up with while writing this and the amount of things I've come up with. Obviously I'm not exactly original (XD), but I'm still happy with things so far.**

 **Anyway, hope you all continue to enjoy this, and I hope you all have a great week!**

…

 **I'd actually written something in this chapter that I'd decided to leave out. So yeah, it isn't canon, but after all the work I had put into it, I couldn't just delete it. So… you can read this if you want.**

(Let's go back in time to the moment where the older human went into a handstand and tried to remain still so Doggo wouldn't see him)

"Don't move." Frisk whispered.

Her friend was a bit more focused on his handstand and the fight than what she had to say. When Doggo swung his blue blade again, he dropped his handstand and fell below the swing. He spun on the ground and built up momentum before pushing off with one hand and kicking the monster. Doggo raised his arms and caught the kick at his wrists, but the force behind it sent him crashing back into his station.

Frisk gasped, worried for the monster. Meanwhile, her guardian turned to her and took her hand. "Come on! Let's go!"

Doggo growled as it jumped back out and aimed right for the tall human that he could see. AJ let go of the girl's hand and met the dog's daggers with his own blade. They glared at each other before the human went for a kick, which Doggo dodged by jumping high into the air and gracefully landing on top of the guard station. The monster looked up and saw his opponent rapidly disappearing in front of him. "Don't you stop _moving_!" He shouted. He swung his arm and threw one of his daggers straight as an arrow.

The male human's body moved on its own the moment he saw the knife fly at him. He leaned to the side and caught the dagger with his left hand before throwing it back in a flash. The dagger struck a small wooden support in the station, causing the roof to fall to one side and Doggo to stumble and fall forward. He landed in a roll and quickly brought up his one knife defensively.

"Can you please back off!?" AJ asked, annoyed. "I don't want to hurt you!"

"Just doing my job." Doggo said before jumping at the boy again.

The human raised his blade and blocked the weapon before placing his foot on the airborn dog and shoving him back towards his station. The dog saw something in the corner of his vision and quickly grabbed his other knife before rushing the human again. Doggo showed his tenacity and speed by getting three small slashes through the human's guard, and Frisk was starting to get desperate. The girl jumped at the dog and hit his leg with her stick. The dog fell onto one knee and turned to the smaller human with a growl.

AJ recovered while the monster was distracted and saw it was turning to attack the child. Suddenly, all the anger he had left him and his vision became focused and clear. He tackled Doggo and immediately stabbed his machete into the snow right next to the dog's head to make a point. The monster realized his situation and snarled at the human that had beat him.

"I don't care about you damn job. Keep this up and you can just say goodbye to your job, and your life!" The tall human threatened. He continued to stare his opponent right in the eyes until they relented.

"Fine… I'll back off." Doggo said with a huff. The human stood up and stepped away from him, so he slowly got up himself and turned around to walk back to his station. "I'll just get some dog treats and forget this ever happened." He mumbled.

 **And then I decided "U no what m8? This fight got way more crazy (and kind of awesome IMO) than I meant it to be. Let's just stick to the pacifist route like I had intended to do before I decided to indulge my want to write cool fight scenes.**

 **Hey, random question. Do any of you think I should change the summary of this fic? I kind of think I should, now that I have a better idea of the story, but I also don't know what I should change it too. If any of you have a good idea for a better summary, mind PM'ing me it? Or you know, if you think it doesn't need to be changed you could say that too. It's not a really important thing, but I thought I might as well throw the idea out there in case anyone is interested.**


	8. Nice Cream! Crosswords! Dog Marriage?

**Okay so Frisk's supposed to be like 10 or something (I** _ **really**_ **can't decide) but I keep mentally picturing an adorable little chibi child instead. It messes with my idea of the scenes a lot.**

 **Anyway, enjoy!**

 **I do not own or claim to own Undertale or anything else that I may use or reference in this fanfic. Toby Fox is the fantastic individual that made much of Undertale and its characters, as well as the music.**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.8

* * *

("Snowy" – Undertale OST)

By now they had left the thick forest, and could see the path ahead clearly. The cave they were in was _massive_. It extended out in all directions for miles, and the path they were on was actually elevated high above the snowy forest below. The path was actually multiple elevated areas connected by bridges, and one such wooden structure was laid out in front of them. Before that, though, there was what looked like a mobile stand you would expect to see in a large city. Complete with a bright, red and yellow umbrella.

They approached a blue-furred humanoid with rabbit ears, wearing a yellow shirt, and standing next to the stand. He looked sad. "I don't understand why these aren't selling…" The monster said to himself. "It's the perfect weather for something cold." The creature looked up and saw the two cloaked humans. His eyes widened and he smiled at them. "Oh! Customers! Hello there!"

"Hi!" Frisk greeted.

"Would you like some Nice Cream? It's the frozen treat that warms your heart!" The monster said.

"Aww!" The girl awed at the neat little catchphrase. "Sure!"

"You are an adorable little one! You know what? I'll lower the price just for you! 14 gold!" The monster decided with a big smile. He noticed the symbol on the backs of their cloaks. "You know what? 13 gold! Just for you two!"

'Oh hey, my lucky number.' The taller human thought.

Frisk nodded and gave some gold to the friendly monster, and he smiled a bright smile.

"Here you go!" He said, handing the younger human an ice cream cone. "Have a super-duper day!"

"Bye!" The two humans walked on across the bridge. Once they did, the smaller human removed the wrapper on the cone. "You're super spiffy!" She exclaimed, holding the wrapper up to him, which said what she had just exclaimed.

He rolled his eyes with an amused smile. "I don't get why you wanted ice cream in this cold."

"I didn't get this for me, I got it for you!" She explained, holding the cone up to him.

"What? No, you can have it. I don't want any." He said.

"You're hurt." She pointed out.

"Eh, I'm getting used to the pain." He said casually.

"Well don't get used to the pain, get rid of it!" She requested, shaking the ice cream in front of him.

'She's really getting into this protecting me thing, isn't she?' "That was a total waste of money, though. Don't you still have that spider doughnut?" AJ asked.

"I brought this for you. Can you please just take it?" Frisk asked sadly.

'And now she's making me feel guilty because she got me something that she thought I would like and now she thinks I don't like it.' He thought. He rolled his eyes and sighed before taking the ice cream. "Alright. I'm sorry." He apologized before licking the ice cream for a second. "It's not that I'm not thankful, Frisk. I just don't see why you couldn't have just used what we already have." He explained as they started walking again.

"Well that guy was sad, so I wanted to cheer him up." The girl explained.

"Ahhhh. So you killed two birds with one stone at the cost of 13 gold?" He realized.

"Yep!" She answered happily as she nodded.

"Hey, what was up with that guy anyway? He saw something on our backs and dropped the price more." AJ noticed.

"I'm not sure. The thing on our cloaks was also on Toriel's clothes, does that mean anything?" Frisk asked.

"Wish I knew. Maybe it's the symbol of some group that people like." The older human guessed.

"Do you think sans is being nice to us because of that?" Frisk wondered.

"Maybe, but maybe he doesn't really care." 'He seems like a laidback, carefree kind of guy that wouldn't really care.' He figured. "You know what? Even if people are gonna keep thinking we're a part of something that we aren't, I don't care! I'm not taking this off! Don't want to freeze today, thank you very much." He commented, making her chuckle a bit.

They came across a fork in the road.

"Who left this here?" AJ wondered, before picking up the item. "Did someone eat ice cream with this? Who eats ice cream with a fork?" His fellow human could only shrug. "Eh, whatever." He continued licking his frozen treat while throwing the fork over his head.

They then came across a split in the road.

"Step on a crack, and you'll break your mom's back." AJ quoted. He then looked at the girl awkwardly. "Oh, right, you… might not care about that." He realized.

Frisk looked at the split in the ground, as if tempted. She raised her foot as if to step on it. "Mmmmm no!" She decided, stepping over it. "I'm better than that! I won't sink to their level!"

"Well, good for you." Her friend commented with a light smile.

They then came across a point where the path split off in two directions. One was clearly the way to go, the other was a dead end. They chose the dead end, but only because of the familiar face.

"Hey, fancy seeing you two here." Sans said jokingly as the two humans approached.

"And in a _shocking_ turn of events, you're ahead of us again!" The tall human said dramatically, though he clearly wasn't surprised by this fact.

Sans chuckled before noticing the food the boy was eating. "You know, I've been thinking of selling some treats, too. Want to buy some fried snow? Just five gold."

Frisk's eyebrow rose in confusion as she snorted in amusement.

Meanwhile, the older human simply shrugged. "No thanks, I don't really need water right now."

Frisk couldn't hold back her chuckles and sans smirked at his comment. "Smart-aleck." He commented, making the human give him an amused smile back at him. He decided to ignore him and turn to the human closer to his height. "What about you, Frisk? Want some fried snow?"

The girl giggled, but decided to amuse him and see what he would do. "Sure." She answered, handing five gold.

"Did I say five gold? I meant 50 gold." Sans said, smirking.

She squinted at him for a moment before pulling out 50 gold.

"Did I say 50 gold? I meant 5000 gold." Sans corrected, his smirk growing as the smaller human pouted at him.

"Pfft!" AJ started chuckling at the sudden jump in price. "W-Well that escalated quickly." He commented.

"What? You not buying?" Sans asked the girl, maintaining his smile.

"No." Frisk decided, looking adorably angry.

"You know what? You're right. I'm not charging enough." Sans said.

The girl flipped an invisible desk and did her best not to giggle while she turned around to walk away, making her fellow human laugh a bit. "Well, at least she knows when she's being swindled." He commented to the skeleton before following her.

* * *

They continued down the correct path, passing by a few more trees, another small ice lake, a random pile of snow, and a snowdecahedron. They came across an area where the ground below was much closer than in other areas and the tips of the trees actually reached up to their height. Also, the skeletons were waiting for them.

"AH, THE BROTHER/SISTER DUO IS HERE TO FACE THE BROTHER/BROTHER DUO!" Papyrus exclaimed upon seeing the cloaked humans.

"What? No, we're not related!" AJ corrected.

"ARE THE HUMAN SIBLINGS READY TO FACE THE GREAT MONSTER SIBLINGS ONCE AGAIN? BECAUSE THIS CHALLENGE WILL…" The tall and loud monster trailed off upon seeing that there was nothing but a piece of paper between them and the humans. "SANS! WHERE'S THE PUZZLE!?" He turned and asked the skeleton next to him.

"It's right there, on the ground." Sans said, casually pointing at the piece of paper. He turned and smiled at his brother. "Trust me, there's no way they're getting past this." He said, sounding remotely confident.

AJ couldn't help but give Frisk a bewildered look. "What is wrong with them?" He whispered.

The girl giggled at his reaction before walking up to the piece of paper, her friend following warily in case the paper was somehow a trap. Papyrus watched in anticipation as she picked up the piece of paper and saw it was a classic word search. "Oh! I love these!" She whispered.

"We don't have time for this!" The taller human whispered.

"What's the rush?" She asked.

"Look, take the thing with if you want to do it later, but we're not doing this right now! I'd personally like to move on if this is all there is to the puzzle." AJ said.

"Fine." The girl said hesitantly before folding up the piece of paper and pocketing it.

Papyrus turned to his brother with an angry expression. "SANS! THAT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"

The shorter skeleton snapped two fingers, "Darn!" before putting his hands on his hips and looking at the ground with a disappointed look that didn't seem too genuine. "I knew I should have used today's crossword." He said.

"WHAT!? CROSSWORD!?" Papyrus exclaimed, outraged. "I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU JUST SAID THAT! IN MY OPINION, JUNIOR JUMBLE IS EASILY THE HARDEST!"

Sans did a double-take. "What? Really, dude? That easy-peasy word scramble? That's for baby bones." He teased.

"UN… BELIEVABLE!" Papyrus exclaimed before turning to the humans. "HUMANS! SOLVE THIS DISPUTE!" He demanded.

The two humans once again gave each other confused looks. "Umm… what do you think?" The older one hesitantly asked, a bit caught off guard at being asked this so suddenly.

Frisk cleared her head quickly enough. "Um… I'd say those word scrambles can be pretty tough." She answered as she messed with the pink glove on her left hand.

"Well yeah, they _can_ be, but crosswords are definitely harder." AJ said.

"What!?" Frisk asked, surprised.

"I'm just saying that no matter who you are, those crosswords are always going to be harder and are always going to take more time than a word scramble. Those things can be really easy sometimes!" He reasoned.

"Well just because it's not easy for us doesn't mean it isn't easy for someone else out there!" Frisk countered.

"Well unless another human falls down here so we can get their opinion, we can't really know for sure, can we?" He asked, holding his arms out as if to catch someone.

The four of them looked up and waited for someone to fall.

.

.

.

"Exactly!" AJ exclaimed before turning to the monsters. "So yeah, crosswords are much harder!" He answered for them both, and ignored Frisk going to argue with him.

Sans smiled and nodded in agreement, while Papyrus threw his arms up in frustration. "YOU'RE ALL WEIRD! CROSSWORDS ARE SO EASY. IT'S THE SAME SOLUTION EVERY TIME!" He started smiling for some reason, and the humans couldn't help but notice the smile was similar to the one he made the last time he made a joke. "I JUST FILL ALL THE BOXES WITH THE LETTER Z, BECAUSE EVERY TIME I LOOK AT A CROSSWORD, ALL I CAN DO IS SNORE! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!" And once again he laughed as he walked away.

Sans chuckled. "Papyrus… finds difficulty in interesting places." He commented. "Yesterday he got stumped trying to 'solve' the horoscope."

"Okay I know nothing about the horoscope and even I know you don't _solve_ it!" AJ exclaimed.

"Well, you gotta give him credit for trying." The skeleton said.

'Not really.' The tall human thought.

"Come on! Let's get going!" Frisk requested. "I want to see the next puzzle!" The antsy girl grabbed his hand and quickly ran forward.

"Agh! Well, bye then!" AJ said to the monster as he was dragged along.

They ran down the path only for Frisk to skid to a stop upon noticing a few things in the area. For one, there was actually an elevated area higher than theirs. Because of this, there was a large dirt wall, a wall which had a small hole in it. Besides that, in front of them was a note on the floor, which was next to a table with a plate of spaghetti on it, which was next to a microwave with all the buttons saying 'spaghetti' on them.

The girl immediately went up to the spaghetti and tried to pick up the fork, while the boy walked up to the note and picked it up. "Well, this sure looks like the handwriting of someone like Papyrus. 'Humans! Please enjoy this spaghetti! Little do you know, this spaghetti is a trap!' What? 'Designed to entice yo-' Yeah okay he's just trying to waste our time. Moving on!" He said aloud and turned to walk onward. "What are you doing?" He asked the girl in front of him who seemed unable to lift a fork.

"Grrrrr!" The girl growled in exertion. "It's stuck to the table!"

"It is?"

The girl gave up. "It's totally frozen… How am I supposed to eat the determination spaghetti without the fork!?" She asked, annoyed.

AJ chuckled. "Kid, with how much you shout 'determination', I don't think you need any 'determination spaghetti'."

The girl tried to pick up the spaghetti with her hands. "Oh." She said simply.

"What?"

She then tried to lift up the plate. "The spaghetti is frozen too. I can't eat it anyway." She realized and pouted.

"That's what the microwave is for." Her fellow human noted as he walked up to the microwave. "Iiiiit isn't plugged in. Okay…" He deadpanned.

"I can't lift up the plate anyway, so it's not like it would matter." The girl complained.

"Just throw the whole table in!" He suggested while making a dramatic motion with his arms, as if he was throwing the whole table into the microwave. They both laughed for a moment.

Now that the girl was smiling, her demeanor had done a 180. "You know what? It's okay, because I know that one day…" She spun around and dramatically pointed at the small hole in the wall. "That mouse will climb out of its hole and get that spaghetti! As long as it has determination, it can do it! So as long as we keep our determination, we'll be fine, too! DETERMINATION!"

The boy chuckled at her behavior. "I think having a determined soul is getting to you more than it's getting to me."

The girl giggled as she nodded in agreement. "Maybe so. I gotta say though, trying to eat that spaghetti sure was… _impastable_!" They both laughed again and walked onward, soon coming across another elevated area, though the floor below this one was much further away. Falling meant certain death here, but as long as they stay away from the edges, they needn't worry.

The girl noticed a sign next to her as they entered the area. "Warning, dog marriage?" She read. Just for a second she thought the sign had magically changed to say 'Yes, you read that right', but assumed she was imagining things. She didn't get a response from her friend, so she turned to see what he was doing. She saw him staring behind them, smiling. "Hey, AJ?"

At the moment, the boy was strangely lost in his thoughts. 'You know, it isn't that bad here. We're fighting for our lives against some of these monsters, and yet, I've laughed here harder and more often than I've laughed my whole life. I already like the skeletons and… Toriel, more than I like any other humans, excluding the kid. Still, I'd rather just get her back to the surface… Damn it, now I'm conflicted!'

"AJ!"

"Eh!?" He exclaimed and jumped back when he realized the girl had jumped up to get in his face and get his attention.

"You weren't listening to me." She noted, pouting once again.

"Hey, I'm allowed to have thoughts, aren't I?" He asked jokingly.

She sighed and rolled her eyes with a small smile. "Yes, but you can't really protect me if you aren't focusing. What were you thinking about?" She asked curiously.

The older human shrugged. "Eh, nothing important, don't worry about it."

The sudden sound of a dog's bark caught their attention and their heads snapped forward. Before them stood a dog with its tongue hanging out while it had the derpy-est expression ever. It wore armor, held a shield in its right hand, and a sword made of pomergranite in its left. The fact that the symbol on their cloaks was on the dog's shield did not go unnoticed by the humans.

"Dog? Marriage?" Frisk glanced at the sign. "But there's only one dog…"

"What are you mumbling about?" Her guardian asked.

The dog monster's happy derpyness was seen in the way it moved as well. It stumbled towards them as if it didn't even have control over the upper half of its body and simply used momentum and spun to swing its sword. AJ quickly unsheathed his machete and used it to block the blade aimed at his right side. The dog showed strangely high speeds and quickly spun the other way and struck again with its sword. The human barely deflected the lunge in time and looked his opponent in the eyes. It licked him.

"Ew! No! Bad-" The human was shut up quickly when the dog bashed his head from the side with its shield. He stumbled to recover and saw the dog spinning to swing at him just in time. He ducked under the swing and quickly swung upwards, hitting the dog's shield hard enough to knock it out of the way, leaving an opening. The dog tried to keep him from using the opening and swung at the boy's side. He was just able to bring his machete down to his side to deflect the swing before quickly swinging at the dog's head. It ducked under the swing and nearly fell backwards, but it raised its shield to block the human's downward swing.

"Hey! Be careful!" Frisk scolded after he almost sliced the dog's head off.

The dog pushed with his shield and then spun and swung low, making the human jump back. It quickly stumbled towards the boy again and lunged. AJ brushed his blade against his opponent's just enough to deflect it and get inside the dog's guard. He struck just below its left arm and tore into its armor. The dog jumped away from him, but continued to pant and smile with its tongue hanging out.

"Hey!" Frisk scolded again.

"Oh _look at its face, Frisk!_ It doesn't even care!" He countered angrily.

"Come on! Just pet the dog! I'm sure that'll do it!" The younger human suggested.

"What!?" The dog rushed him and he ducked under a swipe aimed at his head before leaning away from two derpy slashes. "You mean you don't know!?"

"I don't know what to do all the time!" She shouted.

The older human deflected another swipe and attempted to shove the dog's shield out of the way. "Then you're a terrible protagonist as far as I'm concerned!" He shouted back as he lunged at the dog's chest, only for it to lean away from the blade.

"Oh just pet the Lesser Dog already!"

"I'm not petting a dog that's trying to kill me! You do it! That's your thing after all!"

Frisk sighed before starting to walk towards the two. The two were clashing blades again and again, and the dog was spinning after each clash, going faster and faster as its momentum built up. Eventually he was moving even faster than the human and the boy was forced to go on the defensive. He ducked under a swing of the dog's sword but was quickly bashed with its shield. The monster continued its spin cycle and swung again with its sword. A hand wearing a pink glove caught the sword by its blade and stopped the monster's attack _cold_. The dog's happy expression remained, but the older human was shocked.

Frisk looked up at the monster, filled with determination. She jerked the dog's sword out of its hand, pulled her hand back… and pet the dog.

It was a good dog.

"I don't get why you couldn't just pet the dog." Frisk commented as they walked away after having pet the dog whose neck could apparently get _very_ long.

"Did you even see the fight!?" AJ exclaimed. "It was moving so fast and weird! I never would have had a chance to pet it if I tried!"

The girl smiled, though he didn't see it. "I know. I was just messing with you!"

He started to walk down the path straight ahead instead of going right, heading towards what was clearly a dead end, and she went to follow him. "Hey, what was that you said earlier about a determined soul?"

"Oh, right." He realized she wasn't there when he had that talk. "I had asked Toriel if she could teach me her healing magic, and she said I couldn't learn it because I didn't have the right soul to necessarily learn it. She said only kind souls are known to learn healing magic, and I apparently don't have a kind soul. She mentioned me being determined, so I guessed I had a determined soul. I don't know what other souls there are or how to define them, but Toriel looked right at my soul when she said I was determined, so I'm just _guessing_ that the color is what you use to tell what soul a person has. We both have red souls, but that might be a coincidence. Maybe souls really can be different colors, and we just both have determined souls? It could be shape, but our souls are still the same then, and why wouldn't they be heart shaped anyway? They're souls!"

"But you're totally guessing though?" She asked with a teasing smirk.

"Y-yeah." He grumbled hesitantly. "I know it could be something that I just can't see or whatever, I'm just theory crafting to the best of my abilities. I mean I know for a fact that I have a determined soul because when I made the assumption that I did, she didn't correct me. Both our souls look the same, so we must both have determined souls." He added.

"I miss her…" The girl said sadly.

He sighed sadly. "Yeah, me too." He ruffled the girls hair, making her giggle. "But stop thinking sad things! Think about… what the next puzzle might be!" He suggested. "Meanwhile, I'll try to figure out _the purpose of this random freaking dead e-_ AGH!" He was cut off when he tripped over something and got a face full of snow. "Why me?" He whined before rolling over and looking at what he had tripped over. His fellow human walked past the switch and casually flipped it before holding out a hand for him. Unlike the last time, she was able to help a bit.

"Are you okay?" She asked with concern. Although she couldn't hide her amused smile.

"Yep, thanks. What did that switch do?" AJ asked.

"I think it lowered the spikes that were over there." The younger human figured, pointing across the gap to where they could have gone.

"There were spikes over there?"

"Yep."

"Oh. Alrighty then."

They walked past where the spikes had clearly been and crossed over another small bridge onto a small elevated area above the forest. Two tall, imposing cloaked figures with axes suddenly began to approach them. Dog-like snouts stuck out from under their black hoods, it seemed they were more dog monsters.

"Hey, Dogaressa, what are those smells?" Said one with a masculine voice.

"I'm not sure, Dogamy. Where are those smells?" Said the other with a feminine voice.

"If you're a smell…"

"Identify… yoursmellf!"

The dogs quickly started roaming around the arena, sniffing every place they weren't at. The two humans stayed still.

"Don't move and they can't smell you?" Frisk whispered hopefully.

"I really don't think that's how it works!" AJ whispered back.

Eventually the dogs zoned in on them, and they got their weapons ready to defend themselves.

"Hmm… here are those weird smells." Said the male, Dogamy. "They make me want to eliminate."

"Eliminate you!"

The two monsters raised their axes over their heads, causing their hoods to fall back. They already knew their fur was white, but now they could see the eyebrows on the male and the eyelashes of the female. Strangely, the axes had eyes on them that matched the eyes the other dog had. There was even a picture of the opposing dog's head on their chests.

"Oh. Dog marriage..." Frisk realized while fearfully staring up at the large axes they were holding.

They both swung their blades down and forced the humans to jump away from each other. Frisk was now being attacked by the female, Dogaressa, while AJ fought the male. The girl side-stepped another downward attack before ducking under a swing aimed for her head. She stepped back and out of range of two more swings of the large blade. She nearly walked off the edge of the small arena like area. Realizing she was in a corner, she tried to reach out and pet the large dog, but it leaned its head away from her hand and gave her a suspicious look.

Meanwhile, the taller human met his opponent head on. He held his blade backhanded and braced with both his hands as the large dog swung its blade at his left side. He clashed his blade with the dog's as hard as he could, and the force of the massive blade made him slide back a bit before coming to a stop. He pushed back against Dogamy and shoved his axe away. The dog simply went with it and spun his axe the other way, but the human used this opening to slash the monster across its chest and then jump over the coming axe blade.

The dog pulled back his massive weapon behind him before swinging it horizontally once again, the blade quickly picking up speed. The boy ducked under the blade as it cut through the air, but then Dogamy quickly turned around the blade and brought it back, forcing him to awkwardly jump and end up landing on his stomach. He looked up in fear as he saw the dog raise its axe of its head, so he quickly got up and jumped out of the way. The axe was so heavy it buried itself deep in the snow. Despite the adrenaline rushing through him, he kept himself in control and didn't use the opening given to him. "Look, I don't want to-" He was cut off when he heard Frisk cry out in pain. He quickly turned his head and saw the girl get knocked down by the other dog monster.

She had stumbled after a dodge and had no choice but to block the attack with her stick. It proved to be a very sturdy tree limb, but she was hardly as strong as the dog and she had been knocked down hard. Her head was spinning and she was dizzily rolling around in the dirt, trying in vain to regain her bearings. Strangely, at that moment, Dogaressa started sniffing her. "You don't smell right… Are you actually a-"

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" The human still standing shouted angrily. He rushed the fairly large dog and jumped. The dog swung her weapon diagonally upwards and their blades collided. AJ's blade deflected hers towards the ground while he pushed off the blade and front flipped, dropping his heel on the monster's head. The female dog growled viciously at him while trying to now pry her weapon out of the ground.

"Get away from my hot dog!" Dogamy demanded. He had gotten his weapon out of the snow and now swung his right at the boy's back. The human felt something welling up inside him and he spun around suddenly, his machete meeting the large axe and stopping it dead in its tracks. That was a lot of energy to stop so suddenly, and the remaining force came out as a small shockwave that made their cloaks flutter briefly.

He didn't even think about where he got that strength from, he simply stared down the monster with an intensely focused look. He felt his body start to move on its own… Then he saw something fly past his head, followed by the ground shaking *THUD* of both the monsters dropping their axes and excitedly chasing the stick that had been thrown, shaking the boy out of his stupor. Eventually, the older human stepped back and watched as Frisk played fetch with the dogs for awhile. It took him awhile to calm down after the fight, but eventually he admitted that it was pretty fun to watch them play fetch, even if it was absurd that they were doing this at all.

Eventually the dogs were satisfied, Frisk was happy, and AJ was impatient to move on. "I'm starting to realize that I'm going to need to get used to you doing things like this." He deadpanned as they continued down the path.

"Yep!" Frisk said simply with her cheerful smile.

He briefly wondered why his body seemed to fight on its own sometimes, but no amount of theory crafting was giving him any reasonable answers besides 'Ancient ancestor that fought here long ago and either my soul or the magic remembers this and is allowing my body to do things as if it was muscle memory.', so he decided to not think about it too much more.

'It's weird though… it doesn't really feel like muscle memory. Though, what would I know?'

* * *

 **There! I just barely got that done in time! Two fights and around 5000 words instead of 3000 this time! Yay! :D Up next, more puzzles! Capers! Japers! Being captured! And other sorts of fun activities! Maybe, I know better than to make promises now… I can promise that refreshments won't be provided though!**

 **Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! Leave some feedback if you could spare the time? Regardless, I hope you all have a great week!**


	9. Puzzles, Puns, and Cinna-buns!

**Sorry for taking an extra week. My writing position has decided to cause incredible pain in my shoulders. Oh, and school is coming to an end so I have projects and such.**

 **Oh but the school part shouldn't have changed much. The main reason I took so long? I wasn't writing the damn chapter. You know what I was writing? The ending to this story, AND the after-ending. Yep. I couldn't stop thinking about it all, the ending and what comes after, so I've been writing that instead. And if I look back at all that I've written so far… Over 20000 words written so far for the ending and after-ending stuff. Actually over 40000 but the 20000 is what I wrote last week instead of this chapter. (HE'S A MAD MAN)**

 **As usual with me, all the stuff I really wanna write is at the end, and I got impatient since the end is so far away. Now that I've written most of the ending, all I need to do is** _ **get**_ **to the ending. Since I want to get to that stuff as soon as possible, I'm going to try my best to focus on the here and now of this story from now on.**

 **Enjoy the longer chapter to make up for missing a weak. Week. Whatever! Enjoy!**

 **("After ending? Don't you mean epilogue?" NO. That doesn't fit what I'm working on. No I'm not gonna tell you what it is yet)**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.9

* * *

(Nyeh heh heh! – Undertale OST)

" 'Turn every X into an O, then press the switch.' Shouldn't be too difficult." AJ read aloud before commenting.

"How do you change them though?" Frisk asked, looking at the two pressure plates in the snow with a single blue X on each large pressure plate. She stepped on one of the two plates and the X magically turned into a red O. "Oh!" She exclaimed.

" 'Oh.' Heh, I see what you did there." The teen said with a chuckle. "What happens if you step on em again?" The girl stepped on it again and it turned into a yellow triangle. "I didn't actually think that would do anything." He commented.

"It won't change again." Frisk noted, stepping on the pad repeatedly. She quickly stepped on the switch nearby and the plates reset. She stepped on both X's again and turned them into red O's before pressing the switch again, which turned the O's green.

"Well that's a nice introduction to the mechanics of the puzzle." The boy commented before they walked past the spikes that used to be in their way.

Only Papyrus was waiting for them. "WHAT!? HOW DID YOU AVOID MY TRAP!?" He asked, surprised.

"Umm… trap? Which trap?" The boy asked his fellow human.

"I'm not sure." Frisk answered thoughtfully.

"AND MORE IMPORTANTLY… IS THERE ANY LEFT FOR ME?" The skeleton asked cheerfully.

The two humans realized what he was talking about. ""Oh!""

"What should we say then?" The older human whispered.

"Uhh… we left some for you!" The shortest one answered cheerfully.

"REALLY!?" Papyrus asked, shocked. "WOWIE! YOU _BOTH_ RESISTED THE FLAVOR OF MY HOMECOOKED PASTA…"

"Yes. The cold, hard, flavor." AJ deadpanned quietly and Frisk had to muffle a chuckle.

"…JUST SO YOU COULD SHARE IT WITH ME!?"

"Yes! That is exactly why we did that!" The boy said with enthusiasm that Papyrus never considered any less than genuine.

"WELL, FRET NOT, HUMANS! I, MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS, WILL MAKE YOU BOTH ALL THE PASTA YOU COULD POSSIBLY WANT! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!" The monster then went on ahead of them, so they ran to catch up with him. They came across what was clearly a more complex version of the X and O puzzle that seemed to be surrounded by lumps of snow rather than walls of a maze.

"HUMANS! MMMM… HOW DO I SAY THIS?..." The skeleton asked himself. "YOU TWO WERE… TAKING TOO LONG, SO… I DECIDED TO IMPROVE UPON THIS PUZZLE BY ARRANGING THE SNOW TO LOOK MORE LIKE MY FACE."

'How conceited are you!?'

"UNFORTUNATELY, THE SOLUTION TO THE PUZZLE HAS CHANGED BECAUSE OF THE SNOW! AND, AS USUAL, MY LAZY BROTHER IS NOWHERE AROUND!" The skeleton complained. "I SUPPOSE WHAT I'M SAYING IS…" He suddenly struck a pose and his scarf once again fluttered in the wind. "WORRY NOT, HUMANS! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL SOLVE THIS CONUNDRUM! THEN, WE CAN ALL PROCEED! MEANWHILE, FEEL FREE TO TRY THE PUZZLE YOURSELVES! I'LL TRY NOT TO GIVE AWAY THE ANSWER!"

"Oh, I think the snow is supposed to stop us." Frisk realized.

"Yeah, but it doesn't." Her fellow human pointed out.

"Well shouldn't we play fair?" She asked.

"Why? We can jump from plate to plate and be done in a moment!" He argued.

"Come ooon! Can't we just play along and have fun?" The girl asked.

The teen let out an annoyed sigh. "Well, we have been dealing with spikes and stuff even though we could just jump over them… _fine._ " He grumbled.

"Yay!"

"I'm still going to have this figured out in like, five minutes at most." AJ commented.

Three minutes later the two of them had figured it out together. It really was an easy puzzle.

"You know, Papyrus? That was fun! Thanks for _switching_ things up with this puzzle." The teen thanked.

Papyrus looked absolutely devastated. "HUMAN… PLEASE DON'T DO THIS TO ME…" He whined.

"What's the matter? After meeting sans, I thought skeletons liked puns, but you're acting like they're… _bone_ dry." Frisk said with a smirk.

"AAAAAAAAGH! HOW CAN YOU BOTH LOVE PUZZLES YET MAKE SUCH AWFUL PUNS!?" Papyrus screamed before going ahead of them. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, SANS! YOU'RE A BAD INFLUENCE ON THE HUMANS!" He shouted, his voice growing even more distant.

"Worth it." The older human decided before they went to catch up with him again.

They went across yet another row of spikes that had been removed by their puzzle solving skills. Just past those spikes, sans was recovering from a laughing fit. "Oh, hehe, hey guys." Said a skeleton still struggling a bit to breathe. "Glad to see you uh, hehe, didn't need my he-help. Cause I sure, heh, love doing absolute-heh-ly nothing."

"Are you okay?" Frisk asked, chuckling herself.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." Sans repeated as he finally relaxed. "Ugh. Man, papy's reactions are the best. Seriously though, good job on solving that one so quickly."

"Well these puzzles really are all pretty easy." The teen commented honestly.

"Well, you might be surprised by the next puzzle." Sans said before walking behind a nearby tree and disappearing.

The humans were barely surprised by this after all they'd seen, so they simply moved on. They came across another wooden bridge almost immediately and noticed both the skeletons were already in front of them, standing next to some weird machine. Between the monsters and humans was some metal floor which was split into squares in various shades of grey.

"NOW, TIME FOR THE SIBLING DUOS TO GO AT IT AGAIN! I'M SURE YOU TWO WILL LOVE THIS PUZZLE! IT WAS MADE BY THE GREAT DOCTOR ALPHYS!" Papyrus stated.

"Aren't you going to try and correct him?" Frisk asked her fellow human, confused.

"No, I'm giving up on that idea. He'll never learn anyway." He deadpanned.

"YOU SEE THESE TILES? ONCE I THROW THIS SWITCH… THEY WILL BEGIN TO CHANGE COLOR!"

"Nice pause for effect…" AJ mumbled/deadpanned.

"EACH COLOR HAS A DIFFERENT FUNCTION! RED TILES ARE IMPASSABLE, YOU CANNOT WALK ON THEM! YELLOW TILES ARE ELECTRIC! THEY WILL ELECTROCUTE YOU!"

"No, really?..."

"GREEN TILES ARE ALARM TILES! IF YOU STEP ON THEM, YOU WILL HAVE TO FIGHT A MONSTER!"

"How alarming!"

" _IGNORING YOU_! ORANGE TILES ARE ORANGE SCENTED! THEY WILL MAKE YOU SMELL DELICIOUS!"

"Okay, I'll admit, I didn't expect that one."

"BLUE TILES ARE WATER TILES! SWIM THROUGH ALL YOU LIKE! HOWEVER, IF YOU SMELL LIKE ORANGES, THE PIRAHNAS WILL BITE YOU!"

"Is that how it works? They like oranges? I thought they ate meat?"

"ALSO, IF A BLUE TILE IS NEXT TO A YELLOW TILE, THE WATER WILL ZAP YOU!"

"At least something here makes sense…"

"PURPLE TILES ARE SLIPPERY! YOU WILL SLIDE TO THE NEXT TILE! HOWEVER, THE SLIPPERY SOAP SMELLS LIKE LEMONS! WHICH PIRAHNAS DO NOT LIKE!"

"Why they gotta be so sour?" He asked jokingly. "Wait, why don't yellow ones smell lemony?" He realized.

Frisk was weakly hitting the teen's leg as she gasped for breath. "Stop… please… I can't… stop laughing… I need to breathe…"

"Okay, Frisk, I'm sorry, I'll stop." The boy said with a grin as he watched her falling apart with laughter.

"Ow… my sides… they hurt…" Frisk whispered as she fell onto the floor, making her friend start chuckling.

"PURPLE- UM… IS THE LITTLE HUMAN ALRIGHT?" Papyrus asked.

"She's fine, she's just laughing at some jokes I made. Continue." AJ requested casually, clearly not worried about the girl.

"OH. OKAY! ANYWAY, THE PURPLE AND BLUE TILES ARE OKAY! AND FINALLY, THE PINK TILES. THEY… THEY DO NOTHING, REALLY. STEP ON THEM ALL YOU LIKE! HOW WAS THAT!? UNDERSTAND?"

"Well, I think get most of it, but I was making so many comments while you spoke and Frisk was- is falling apart, so… would it be alright if you repeated that all one more time?" The taller human requested.

"OKAY… I GUESS I'M REPEATING MYSELF THEN…" Papyrus said hesitantly.

AJ looked at his fellow human and saw her on the floor, still trying to calm down. Her laughter was reduced enough to where she could breathe, but her sides still hurt. "I'm glad my little comments amused you so much." He commented.

"Shut up. I'm trying to calm down here." Frisk requested. Since she was still laughing so much, the slightest things were still setting her off and making her laugh more.

"Right, right, sorry."

"OKAY! DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW!?"

The older human's head shot up and his eyes widened. 'Wait… what?' "D-Did you… repeat it all already!? Oh crap! I am _so_ sorry!"

Sans glanced at Papyrus to see how he was taking this. The moment he saw his brother's face he fell over laughing and was now much like Frisk, rolling on the floor. Normally if the boy had seen that face he would have been wheezing with laughter, but he was not under these circumstances.

"C-Can you repeat that _one_ more time?" He asked fearfully. "I promise I'll listen this time!"

Papyrus simply stared at him for another moment. "How about… you just… do this puzzle on your own…" He deadpanned before walking away, leaving a piece of paper on the floor next to the machine. "Nyeh… heh… heh…" Papyrus left two short figures rolling on the ground laughing and one tall figure looking really sorry for his mistake. Sans's laughter was the only laughter related to his mistake, but he still felt like he was surrounded on both sides by laughs of shame. If felt like a very long time for him before they both calmed down, even though it really didn't take Frisk that much longer to relax. They were still in pain, but they had calmed down.

"I think I get it. The magic is what's making us all laugh so easily." The teen realized plainly. 'It DOES affect emotions! TORIEL! WHAT WERE YOU ON!?... Probably magic, actually…'

"Whatever you say, bud." Sans responded. "Hey, you know, that spaghetti he left back there wasn't that bad, for my brother anyway. Since he's started cooking lessons, he's really improved a lot. I bet if he keeps it up, next year he'll even make something edible." He said with a laugh which the humans joined in.

The humans went to walk away when Frisk decided to check the piece of paper on the floor. It was nothing but illegible chicken scratch, so they decided it was best to leave the machine alone since they have no idea how to use it. The next area they walked onto had quite a few trees around it, and there was also another station like the one Doggo was in. The elephant in the room though was large amount of… snowdogs, all over the place. They looked a lot like the Lesser Dog but with varying lengths to the neck. All of them had fallen apart, however, with all of them missing their heads. The snowdog heads were lying on the ground with the same grin that the real dog had.

"So are these things monsters or did Lesser Dog get inspired by something?" The teen asked.

"I think they're just snow." Frisk guessed. She walked up to the station and noticed it was empty besides the box of pomeraisins. There was also a sign next to the station that said 'AWARE OF DOG. Pleas pet dog.' She giggled a bit before turning to the sweater wearing monster nearby. "What happened here?" She asked.

"A dog had just rushed in here, filled with inspiration. It kept trying to build a snowdog that expressed its own emotions. But, as it built, it kept getting more excited. Its neck got longer and longer, and it added more snow, until… It was rather sad to watch, but I just couldn't look away." The monster seemed saddened and looked away from the cloaked girl. She patted them on the back gently before walking away to her friend, who was resting by two fallen snowdog heads.

"Poor dog." AJ commented, hearing the story from where he was at. "A bunch a failed art, I know that feeling."

"You did art?" The girl asked.

"Tried." He answered. "I can't draw, at all."

A weird glint appeared in her eyes as she gained this determined look. "You just didn't have enough determination! You know how this dog was able to make all this!? DETERMINATION!" She shouted passionately. She looked back down at her friend and saw him roll his eyes in amusement.

"I'm still trying to figure out which one of us is more insane." He commented, and they both laughed a bit. "Do you wanna stop for a minute or are you too impatient for that?" He asked with a smirk.

"I'm too _determined_ to stop now!" She corrected.

He chuckled before standing up. "Alright then, we can always rest later I guess."

* * *

The next area was an ice lake surrounded by trees. There was a large amount of X's within the ice. Also, three out of four sides of the lake led to a cliff. There seemed to be a path of the opposite end, but the button between them and the path would likely be the only legit way to cross that gap.

"Well, this is an astoundingly complex version of the pressure plate puzzle." AJ noticed.

"You think so?" Frisk asked.

"No." He deadpanned. "All I have to do is jump from plate to plate, and since the plates are over the ice, I won't slip off them. BUT" He said quickly, noting she was going to argue with him. "I won't do that, because that would be too easy."

"Yay! Good! It's more fun to figure out the puzzle!" The girl said cheerfully before joining her friend in trying to observe the lake without setting foot on it.

Some time passed as they silently used their brains before the taller one spoke up. "Yep, I see it." He put a hand on her shoulder and pointed at the plates with his other. "Look. There, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, and then straight to the button on the other end. You kind of spiral inward. Am I wrong?"

"I think you're right." The child agreed with a nod. "That should work!"

"Alright then!" He placed his hand on her back and pushed her towards the first plate. "Have fun! And be careful!" She jumped onto the ice and slid along the path he had pointed out. Just as she reached the last plate, he slid across the ice, stepped on the switch, and continued on to the button. Pressing it caused the ground below the lake to extend out and allow them to walk across to the path ahead. "There we go!" He turned and saw her pouting at him. "What? Did you want to do the honors?" He asked, failing to hold back his smirk.

"I was _hoping_ to!" The girl complained.

"Sorry. If there's another one, you can have the honors for that one." He said before walking onward. "For now, hurry up slowpoke." He teased. They walked down the ice covered path surrounded by trees and slid across it.

The next area they entered had a small dog house and a load of snow poffs. "Oh look, a snow poff!" Frisk noted. "And this, is a snow poff! This, however, is a snow poff!" The teen rolled his eyes and walked forwards while Frisk basically teleported around to each snow poff along the way. "Snow poff… Is it really a snow poff?... Eh? There's gold coins in here! Mine!... BEHOLD!" She shouted, making her fellow human spin around to see her standing next to absolutely nothing interesting. "A snow poff." She finished.

"Are you done?" He asked, amused. 'We are all high on magic.' He decided. 'Maybe these monsters aren't real? Maybe magic is just one hell of a drug after all.'

"No! There's one last snow poff!" The girl said adamantly and walked over to the last snow poff.

"The sign next to that dog house says 'woof'." The teen commented with a chuckle.

"I saw that." The child responded before noticing a tail sticking out of the snow poff. "Huh?" A white fluffy dog stuck it's head out of the snow poff. "Hi, puppy!"

"Arf!" The dog let out a cute little bark.

""OH MY GOD IT'S SO CUTE!"" They both squeed.

The dog suddenly grew and revealed a massive suit of armor. ""Oh…"" They both said, sweatdropping as they stared up at the big armored dog towering over them. With a swing of its massive arm, the two humans were smacked and sent flying back. It took them a moment to recover after having their world spin like that.

"Alright, throw the stick so we can move on." AJ groaned out as he and Frisk slowly pulled themselves out of the snow.

"Yeah…" The girl agreed before pulling back their arm to throw the stick. The dog's ears perked up at the sight of the stick and it started running towards them on its massive paws. The younger human's eyes widened when her fellow human started running forward to meet the dog head on. "W-Wait!"

"Don't worry! I won't let it get to you!" He yelled back as he readied his machete to defend himself. The massive dog swung down with one of its massive arms just as they met, and he quickly stopped and jumped back to avoid the swing. The dog swung with its other arm, and he barely dodged it before slashing at its arm. His blade bounced off its armor. "Crap!" The dog continued to smile as it tried to bring both its arms down on the human, who rolled to the side to avoid the potentially crushing attack.

The monster dragged one of its arms across the ground towards him, so he jumped into the air to avoid it. He saw the other arm coming to punch him in midair, so he tried to counter it with his blade. He felt the force of a train hit him and send him flying away and bouncing along the ground far past his fellow human. He honestly didn't know how he hadn't broken anything, but he was pretty sure his ribs had cracked in a few places. He looked up and saw how terrified Frisk was as she stared at him. "Don't worry, I'm okay…" He groaned and stood up. He saw the monster was standing over his fallen weapon and he glared at it. "Frisk… give me that donut we got from the spiders." He requested without turning to her. He caught the donut and ate it in two bites, feeling all his pain go away in seconds. He was determined to get the weapon back, and he didn't waste another moment before running at the monster as fast as he could.

"Wait! Don't! It'll hurt you!" Frisk cried out fearfully. Her friend ignored her pleas. "Please don't, AJ! It could kill you!"

Moments before he reached his opponent the monster started to run straight at the human. He jumped and slid along the ground to go below the dog, only its massive legs got in his way. So instead he dug his heels into the snow to stop himself before leaping over the dog. He had to flip in the air in order to just barely avoid getting hit by the running dog, and he was able to land behind it and pick up his weapon. "Haha!" He laughed triumphantly and held up his weapon… only to see the dog had simply kept running over to Frisk. It was leaning down to bring its head to the girl's height, allowing her to pet it. She smiled a bit as she pet the dog.

The fun quickly came to an end though since the dog sees fighting as play. It nearly swept the girl away with one of its paws, but she quickly saw this and jumped. It tried to smack her with its other hand/paw, but she planted her legs on it and pushed off it so she didn't take the full force of the attack. She landed on her feet and realized all this movement had gotten the dog really excited. "Do you wanna fetch now!?" She asked with the classic voice you use when you speak to a puppy. "Fetch!" She threw the stick and the dog quickly turned and bounded over to it before bringing it back.

The child had an idea and picked up a snowball before throwing it. The dog looked confused for a moment but it quickly _picked up all the snow in the area and brought it back to them in one massive pile_.

After running around and picking up so much snow, the massive mutt was really tired. It rested its head in her lap and both humans were able to pet it for awhile. Eventually it was contented. The small dog jumped out of the armor and licked the giggling girl's face repeatedly before getting back in the suit of armor upside down and walking away.

They were grinning like idiots watching the adorable pup walking away like that. Frisk decided to ruin the mood. "You should let me pet you again." She said suddenly.

"What!? Absolutely not!" He exclaimed.

"Come on! Pleeease?" She begged.

"No." He said strongly.

"You know you liked it!" She teased, making him blush.

"Frisk, no." He said sternly.

" _Frisk, yes!_ " She said maniacally before bursting out laughing. Not bothering to stop her own laughter, she jumped up at him and tried to pet him.

"No!" He countered, leaning away from her hand. She landed and jumped at him again. "NO!" He shouted before starting to run away from the girl and up the hill in front of them. The girl continued to laugh as she chased after him. Just as she caught up to him though, he came to a sudden stop and stuck his arm out so she wouldn't fall of the cliff before them.

The elevated area they were on came to an end, and there was a much larger gap than normal between this one and the next, with only a dangerous looking wooden bridge to allow them to cross the dangerous chasm. And at the other end of the bridge, was none other than the skelebros.

"NYEH HEH! IT IS TIME FOR THIS SIBLING RIVALRY TO COME TO AN END!" Papyrus announced dramatically before pointing at them with equal levels of drama. "THIS IS YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE, HUMANS! BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!" The humans' eyes widened. The entire lengthy bridge now appeared to be a deathtrap. Flames danced below the bridge, a cannon appeared next to the monsters, many spears were hanging above them, along with a spike-covered metal ball. Though the humans had to hold back their laughter when they saw a small white dog hanging from a rope as well. It was smiling like nothing was wrong, even though that should have been uncomfortable.

"WHEN I SAY THE WORD, THIS ALL WILL FULLY ACTIVATE! CANNONS WILL FIRE, SPIKES WILL SWING, BLADES WILL SLICE, SPEARS WILL STAB, FLAMES WITH… BE FIREY…" He said uncertainly before recovering. "ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF VICTORY WILL REMAIN! ARE YOU READY!? BECAUSE! I! AM!" He trailed off, and they waited for him to activate everything. The skeleton looked uncertain, hesitant even. "A-ABOUT! TO DO IT!" He added.

The dog continued to swing without a care in the world. The humans had to ignore it or risk bursting out laughing.

"Uhhhh what's the hold up?" Sans asked, looking confused and a bit concerned.

"H-HOLD UP? WHAT HOLD UP!? I'M… I'M ABOUT TO ACTIVATE IT NOW!" Papyrus said with clearly forced confidence. Once again he stood tall as he stared at the humans, but they were just waiting for him to activate everything, and he still wasn't doing anything besides standing there.

Sans glanced around at everything. "That uh… doesn't look very activated." He pointed out.

"WELL!" Papyrus started like his normal self before his hesitation finally got to him. "THIS… SEEMS… PERHAPS TOO EASY…" Of course, his bravado returned. "YEAH! I CAN'T DEFEAT THEM LIKE THIS! THIS WOULD BE TOO EASY AND I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS! MY PUZZLES ARE VERY FAIR AND MY TRAPS ARE EXPERTLY COOKED! BUT THIS!?" He motioned at everything around them. "THIS IS TOO DIRECT! NO CLASS AT ALL! AWAY IT GOES!" He said with a wave of his hand over his head, causing all the traps, and the dog, to go away to wherever they came from. The tall skeleton breathed a sigh of relief before noticing the way the humans were looking at him. "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!? THIS WAS ANOTHER DECISIVE VICTORY FOR PAPYRUS! NYEH HEH… HEH?" The dramatic skeleton looked confused as he walked away from them.

Once again, the humans could only look at each other in confusion. "Did that just happen?" AJ asked.

"I… think so?" Frisk answered, unsure.

'Okay, new theory. The monsters are real, BUT, we're ALL high on magic, _especially_ Papyrus. That makes sense, right?...

Right?'

Eventually the befuddled humans slowly walked across the bridge and noticed sans looked a bit worried. "I'm not sure what my brother's going to do now. If I were you, I would make sure I understand blue attacks." He spoke up before doing his best to lighten up. "Well, don't worry too much about it right now, okay? The town right there is called Snowdin. You two should check around, maybe get some rest."

"Rest sounds nice right about now." The teen commented, looking down the path at the small town.

"Do you live in Snowdin?" The child asked.

"Why do you ask?" sans asked curiously.

"Well I was hoping we could visit you!" The girl said with a smile.

The skeleton was a bit surprised by her answer. He smiled. "Well, maybe you could. Depends on what happens next though." He said with a momentary frown. "Explore the town for a bit, have fun, and meet Papyrus when you're ready." He said before backflipping off the cliff behind him. They looked over the edge and didn't see him anywhere.

(Snowdin Town - Undertale OST)

"Alright, here's hoping all the monsters in this town don't try to kill us as well." The teen said as they started to walk towards town. They passed by a Christmas themed sign that said 'Welcome to Snowdin Town!' The buildings here were all made of wood and all had snow on their roofs. The place just generally gave the feeling of a quaint little town around Christmas time "Hey! It even has a little shop!"

"Determination!..." Frisk whispered loudly at the sight of the town and the shop.

"You think we can buy more healing items/food?" The boy asked.

"I mean, I probably have enough money to buy stuff." She responded. There was the sound of jingling coins as she fiddled with her pockets.

The two cloaked humans entered the shop and quickly came face to face with another humanoid rabbit, although this one seemed female. The shelves behind her were littered with various trinkets, though the older human noticed a letter on the wall with that winged circle symbol on it.

"Hello, travelers. How can I help you both?" The shop woman asked as she stood up straight at the sight of them.

"Hello!" Frisk greeted back, and the woman chuckled a bit at her friendliness.

"Hiya! Welcome to Snowdin!" The woman responded with a light smile. "I can't remember the last time I saw some fresh faces around here. Judging by those clothes though, you two must be from the capital." She noted. "How are things going over there?"

"Uh… same old same old." The older human lied.

The woman let out a chuckle. "Heh. Yeah, I bet. Though I hear it's even more crowded than usual over there. Can't blame ya for getting away from there and coming over here, rather you're moving in or just visiting."

"Yep, it sure is." He agreed blindly, hoping he wasn't being tricked. "Anyway uh, what's there to do around here?" He asked quickly, wanting to get away from needing to lie like that.

The monster raised an eyebrow as she looked to the side in thought for a second. "Well, Grillby's has food, and the library has information. If you're tired from your journey, there's the inn next door, which my sister runs." She chuckled at a thought. "And if you're bored, you can sit outside and watch those wacky skeletons do their thing. There's two of em, brothers I think. They just showed up one day and… asserted themselves." She trailed off. "The town has gotten a lot more interesting since then."

The humans chuckled at that. Those skeletons sure were interesting characters.

"Do have any food here?" The child asked after a moment.

"I do actually! My own recipe of cinnamon bunnies!" The monster answered a bit proudly. "They're 25 gold each if you want any."

If the teen actually had any cat ears on his head, they would have perked up. "Cinnamon?" He asked hopefully.

Frisk giggled at that before pulling out quite an amount of gold coins. "We'll take six."

"P-Pardon?" The shopkeep asked, shocked. She looked directly at the coins in the smiling girl's hand. "Wow! Alright then, here you go!" They said before handing two handfuls of cinnamon buns to the child. The girl put most of them in her pockets, but she gave one to her fellow human.

"Thank you! Have a great day!" Frisk said as they both turned and walked out the door.

"You too! Come again sometime!"

The girl looked up at her friend and saw him looking at the cinnamon bun before looking at her. "Frisk… you really didn't need to do that." He said, a mix of shocked, thankful, and sorry that she had used all that gold.

"Come on, AJ, you clearly wanted one. Besides, my pockets were empty and just begging to hold some stuff." The girl countered. "I'm the one with all the gold, let me spend it on you if I want to, okay?"

"Sorry. I'm not used to someone going out of their way to get me something when I didn't ask for it." He said honestly before taking a bite out of the cinnamon bunny. "Ok these are really good!" He commented. "Wait, what about you? Aren't you hungry?"

"Well I was thinking I would eat at that Grillby's place." She figured. "We should save the cinnamon buns for the journey, right?"

"Yep." He agreed with a nod. 'Once again, smart kid. And DAMN this thing is good! Do they have some special kind of cinnamon down here or something!?'

They walked towards what appeared to be the center of the town, passing other furry monsters enjoying their day. In the supposed center of the town was large Christmas tree decorated with the usual lights and ornaments. A large bear monster was setting presents under the tree while a small dinosaur like monster was admiring the tree.

"Yo! You're a kid too, right?" The dinosaur monster asked with a smile as it looked at Frisk.

She was surprised by the monster taking an interest in her all of the sudden, but she quickly smiled. "Yep!"

"Haha! Yeah I could tell! After all, kids always wear striped shirts!" The kid noted before looking back up at the tree.

The younger human looked down at her sweater and looked at the striped green shirt that the kid was wearing. "Huh, he's right." She noted before they continued walking down the snow covered street.

They noticed a larger building with 'Grillby's' written in large letters above the door and windows. There was also an 'open' sign in the windows. "How much gold do you have?" The boy asked as they stared at the building.

"Enough, I think." Frisk answered a bit hesitantly.

"What if you can't afford anything in here though?" AJ asked.

"Then I guess I'll just have a cinnamon bun." The girl answered with a shrug.

They walked in and quickly realized what the place was. "Um, this is a bar." The older human noticed with a bit of worry. "How about we just leave and you have a cinnamon bun instead?" He suggested, pulling on her hand to go leave.

"No, come on, let's look around." The shorted human responded, walking forward and further into the place.

"Frisk, we shouldn't be here!" AJ whispered, but the girl ignored him, so he followed along while glancing around, checking to see who might be a threat.

There was a large square table to their left that was closest to the humans, and most of the dogs they had seen earlier were gathered around it, playing cards. Dogamy and Dogaressa were focused, Doggo looked frustrated, and Greater Dog appeared to be winning, oddly enough. Against the right wall near the entrance were two tables separated by seats on both sides. There was a seemingly drunk bunny monster seated at one with a monster that was literally a mouth at the other.

The humans walked past the large dogs and were able to see Lesser Dog in the back left corner by himself. He had a dog food bowl on the table and he was playing cards with himself. As far as they could tell from a distance, he was losing, somehow. Next to the dog monster, at the bar, were two bird monsters. The bartender was _made of fire_ , yet still wore a nice suit and glasses. After all they'd seen, the two humans still paused to take in the sight of the monster. They tried their best not to stare too long though and turned to the jukebox, where there was a horse(?) monster wearing sunglasses seated at the far corner of the bar.

"Hey there, city slickers! You slipped and fallen on your butts yet?" The horse asked them with amusement.

The teen simply pretended the rude monster wasn't there and kept Frisk focused on getting her food. They sat down at the bar and picked up a menu. "So, can you afford any of this?"

"Umm… I can afford the fries." She answered after scanning the menu.

"Well I like fries, you wanna get fries?" AJ asked.

"I thought I was the one eating." She pointed out with a smirk.

"Well I still have room for a few fries." He countered. "I won't take too many though, promise."

"Alright." Frisk looked towards the bartender. "Can we get some fries?"

Grillby turned to them after a moment and stared at them. The red feathered bird that AJ sat next to leaned closer to them. "Grillby asked if you wanted any drinks." Said the monster.

The older human was surprised by what that implied. The monster could talk but only that bird could understand it? Frisk though had no problem answering to Grillby. "No thanks."

The man on fire nodded lightly before walking through the back door. The red bird cawed with a laugh. "Grillby said he'd still offer you water, but he doesn't touch the stuff."

The fire man's head poked back in through the door and a calm, gruff voice spoke up. "I didn't say that at all."

"Oh come on, Grillbz! Let me have some fun every once in awhile!" The bird complained, and the two cloaked humans laughed.

Eventually the _extremely_ hot bartender came back with a package of fries that the younger human was quick to dig into. The teen took one fry and tried it, only to come to an unfortunate conclusion. "Crap, these are really good. Now I want to steal more." He stared at the fries as they started to disappear, trying to judge how many would be fair and how many Frisk should get. "I'll just take five." He decided before grabbing one, sticking it in his mouth, and slipping another four between each of his fingers. He turned around in his seat and observed the monsters around him while he ate the fries in his hand. Doggo looked pretty angry about Greater Dog winning again.

Eventually Frisk was finished with their meal. Satisfied, she left the gold coins on the table before getting out of her seat and walking out with her friend. Now out of the warmth of Grillby's, they knew they couldn't delay it any longer. It was time to search for Papyrus.

* * *

 **I wanted to make this longer and include the Papyrus fight but I am now realizing I'm out of time. That's fine, I didn't want to rush the fight anyways.**

 **After this Tuesday this school year is over for me! HAPPY NOISES!**

 **Anyway… On our next chapter, we will have the fight with Papyrus, probably. And then?... Well… you'll just have to wait to find out.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! If you did, leave some feedback, I'd really appreciate it.**

 **Regardless, I hope your week hasn't been weak!**


	10. Bonetrousle

**(I have a lot to say this chapter, sorry.)**

 **I really appreciate the positive feedback, thank you! Also, the view count tho! This fic has been consistently getting 200+ views every day that I post a chapter, and that's ignoring the extra views for the rest of the week and leading up to the next update. AND HOLY CRAP WE REACHED 50 FOLLOWS!** ** _WE'RE GONNA REACH 5000 VIEWS AFTER I POST THIS!_** **Seriously, thank you all so much! I'm really glad you're enjoying this! I honestly have no idea what I'm doing right but that's okay! Seeing that seemingly a lot of people actually enjoy this… well… I hate to be cliché, but it fills me with just a bit of determination.**

 **By the way guest "Allie" (Thank you for giving yourself a guest name by the way), to answer your question: The correction Frisk was referring to is the fact that Papyrus thinks the humans are brother and sister, that they're siblings, and they're not. The teen tried correcting Papy on that once and the skeleton didn't even respond, so the older human is just giving up on trying to get him to understand that.**

 **Now, I have been putting off this chapter for a whole freaking week because I can never get myself to start a fight scene. I can't keep delaying this any longer, time to force myself to do it. If it comes out poorly, oh well, I can't let it delay this story any more.**

 **Hope you all enjoy this chapter, somehow!**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.10

* * *

The two humans walked further down the street and came across one last large building at the edge of town. There were Christmas lights all over the two story building, and there were also two mailboxes nearby labeled 'sans' and 'PAPYRUS.' Apparently sans was too lazy to clean out the junk mail in his mailbox.

"They _do_ live here!" Frisk noted with a smile.

"Well I guess we'll be visiting them after our 'fight'." AJ said with air quotes.

They noticed Papyrus's silhouette in the distance down the road. They walked towards him, but as they did a snowstorm started to build up out of nowhere. They held their hoods tightly as the wind and snow tried to blow them away, but they powered through it. Eventually they were close enough to see Papyrus's silhouette in the blizzard, and they noticed the skeleton was turned away from them with his cloak fluttering in the high winds.

"HUMANS, YOU ARE FINALLY HERE." Papyrus noticed. "YOU KNOW, I PITY YOU TWO LONELY HUMANS. ALL YOU HAVE FOR FRIENDS ARE EACH OTHER! I CAN HARDLY IMAGINE WHAT THAT'S LIKE, HAVING ONLY ONE PERSON TO CALL YOUR FRIEND. I AM SO GREAT THAT I HAVE MANY FRIENDS!" They saw his silhouette pose dramatically at that. "AND HAVING MANY FRIENDS IS FAR BETTER THAN HAVING ONE FRIEND… THAT YOU… CAN REALLY COUNT ON…" He said hesitantly. "W-WHATEVER! I AM NOT JEALOUS OF YOUR FRIENDSHIP! QUANTITY OVER QUALITY AFTER ALL! I MEAN, ONE SPAGHETTI NOODLE MAY BE GOOD, BUT IT WON'T DO MUCH ALONE!"

The blizzard abruptly cleared and the tall skeleton spun around to face them with his usual smile. "YEAH! THAT'S RIGHT! SO I DON'T NEED FRIENDSHIP LIKE YOURS, I… I'M FINE WITH WHAT I HAVE! I DON'T NEED TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH YOU!"

"Or, you know, we could still be friends anyways?" The teen suggested.

"REALLY!?" Papyrus asked with stars in his eyes before recovering. "N-NO! NO I CAN'T BE YOUR FRIENDS! YOU'RE HUMANS! I HAVE TO CAPTURE YOU BOTH AND DELIVER YOU TO UNDYNE! WITH TWO HUMANS, SHE WILL SURELY MAKE ME CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD!" He created a bone out of magic and raised it up as if it was a sword.

(Nyeh Heh Heh! – Undertale OST)

"Papyrus, come on! You don't have to do this, we really can be friends!" AJ pleaded.

"Yeah!" The child agreed.

Papyrus's inner conflict showed on his face, but he forced it away. "NYEH! THE GREAT PAPYRUS MUST JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD!" He raised his sword, and three more bones appeared above him, floating in the air.

The older human pulled out his machete and got in front of Frisk. "So, any ideas how to spare him?" He asked.

"It's not coming to me right away." The girl answered. "I'll try to think of something."

The skeleton launched the bones one at a time, and the human shattered each one with his blade. "Guess this is a boss fight then." He figured. Papyrus attacked so slowly the human was able to easily destroy each bone attack that came at them.

"I have an idea!" Frisk said before rolling out to her fellow human's right. She then placed her hands around her soul and made a heart shape over her soul.

The teen looked confused. "What in the world are you doing!?" He asked.

"Shut up! I'm trying to flirt right now!" The girl whispered.

'That's flirting!?' He thought before looking back at Papyrus…

…who was blushing.

"W-WHAT!? FLIRTING!? SO YOU FINALLY REVEAL YOUR _ULTIMATE FEELINGS_. BUT I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW, I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS." Papyrus said proudly.

'How is this even working?...'

"I can make spaghetti!" Frisk said with a smile.

"Can you?" AJ asked, getting only a frown in return. "Alright, alright, I'll shut up."

Papyrus looked worried. "OH NO! YOU'RE MEETING ALL MY STANDARDS!" He shouted.

If this situation wasn't so ridiculous, the taller human would have laughed at that. 'HOW IS THIS EVEN WORKING!?'

"I GUESS… THAT MEANS I HAVE TO GO ON A DATE WITH YOU THEN!" Papyrus realized, confusing the hell out of the older human. "WELL WE CAN DATE L-LATER THEN, AFTER I CAPTURE YOU!" He launched another few bones at the humans, who jumped to dodge the attacks.

AJ got back in front of the child and raised his weapon. "Neither of us want to fight you, Papyrus! Just give up the fight, you can't hit us with these attacks anyway!"

The skeleton raised an eyebrow at him and smiled. "OH REALLY? YOU HAVEN'T SEEN MY OTHER ATTACKS YET!" He raised his sword high, causing bones to stick out of the ground in front of him. The bones went from one end of the wide path to the other. "NYEH HEH!" He pointed his bone sword at them and the bone wall that was only as tall as Frisk began to tear through the ground at high speeds to move towards them.

The humans were easily able to jump over the small wall because of the magic they had absorbed. The teen looked up at Papyrus after they landed. "Sorry, but that won't work either." He said calmly. "If that's all you got, you might as well stop trying!" 'Please fall for it please fall for it please fall for it.'

Papyrus actually seemed surprised. "WELL, I GUESS YOU WILL HAVE TO HONOR OF SEEING MY FAMOUS BLUE ATTACK!" He said before creating a ludicrous amount of blue-tinted bones. It was a scary sight for the humans, but they knew what to do and stood their ground. The bones all attacked in rapid succession, each one going right through the humans as they stood still.

'Yes! He fell for it! A boss who can't even win with a special attack has to give up!' "Even your greatest attack can't beat us!" AJ shouted, hoping that acting cocky would help him out somehow in this situation. "Now let us spare yo-" He suddenly felt something in his chest shift, he looked down and saw his soul was blue.

"What the?..." He heard Frisk exclaim behind him, letting him know the same had happened to her.

"YOU'RE BLUE NOW! THAT'S MY ATTACK!" Papyrus exclaimed before laughing maniacally. "NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

(Bonetrousle – Undertale OST)

'Oh that bastard!'

With a wave of his sword, another wall of bones was created and sent at the humans. They jumped, and just barely made it over the wall. Papyrus noted their confused expressions. "NO MORE SUPER HIGH JUMPS FOR YOU! NYEH HEH HEH!" He sent a few more bones at the humans, and the older one deflected them while the younger one rolled out of the way.

'How the heck do we spare him!? It takes certain actions, but what!?' "Hey, Papyrus! Instead of fighting, why don't we just head back to your house and you make us some spaghetti instead!?" AJ suggested.

"I AM SORRY, HUMAN, BUT I MUST DO THIS TO BECOME A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD!" Papyrus countered before throwing another volley of bones aimed specifically at him.

He ducked under the first before maneuvering so the other two flew over his shoulders. He watched the skeleton prepare another wall for him and launch it at him. He jumped as high as he could, once again barely making it over the wall, and rolled as he landed. The moment he looked up, he saw three more bones coming at him. He broke the first, froze for the second blue one, and broke the third before running at the skeleton with a determined look in his eyes. He raised his blade and swung downward, and Papyrus met it with the bone he was holding like a sword. "Papyrus, you _really_ don't need to do this! You can get into the Royal Guard some other way, without hurting us, and we can just be friends!"

"I DO NOT NEED YOUR FRIENDSHIP, HUMAN!" Papyrus countered before shoving away the human. "LIKE I SAID, I HAVE MANY FRIENDS, AND DO NOT NEED ANY MORE." He swung his bone at the human's left side, but the human blocked it with his weapon. He continued to push towards him, switching between attacking the left and right side each time, but the human was keeping up with him. He stepped back when the teen suddenly counter attacked and slashed at his chest.

The human began to push him back. The teen spun and struck at the skeleton's ribcage, but Papyrus blocked it with bravado. He swung for the skeleton's leg, but it stepped back and parried his machete. The human quickly swung upward then downward, forcing the monster to step back quickly. Papyrus lunged forward, but the human stepped to the side and slashed him across his chest armor. While the skeleton was reeling, he punched him in the chest, knocking him back. He stood straight and pointed his weapon towards his opponent while the monster recovered. He could feel that Frisk was behind him, and that was all that mattered to him at that moment.

Papyrus saw them both and sadness seemed to flash in his eyes for a moment. He shook his head and launched another wall at the humans. They barely jumped over it before he launched a bone attack to drive them apart. He then did his best to throw bones at both of them once again. He caught the older human off guard with a combination of blue and normal attacks and was able to get a hit on him. Being a bone, it was nothing more than a blunt weapon, but it actually hurt quite a bit, and AJ saw his soul crack a little.

"Are you okay!?" Frisk asked, concerned, as she ducked under another bone attack.

"Don't worry about me." He responded calmly, knowing full well that she would ignore that request. "It doesn't hurt that bad." He pushed towards the skeleton once again, ducking, breaking, and jumping over the bone attacks that got in his way. He struck at the monster again, but his blade was blocked again. Papyrus's bone sword turned blue before he swung, and the human stopped moving mid-swing to avoid it. The moment the bone passed through him he continued his swing, only to be cut off by Papyrus's weapon coming back and hitting him in the side with such force that it knocked him down.

The younger human gasped in fear before running towards the fallen human. Papyrus saw this and threw out three more bones at the girl. She raised her stick and used it to break the first two as she ran, but the third hit her good arm and caused her to drop the stick. But, she was able to pick it up with her other hand before she ran past it. The skeleton panicked and tried to raise a bone wall to stop her, but she jumped up and off the wall to get to the monster's height. She let out a yell as she swung as hard as she could, smacking the skeleton's skull and making him stumble back. There was no killing intent behind her swing, so it barely hurt him.

Papyrus shook his head before looking up again. He saw her standing straight with her weapon pointed towards him just like AJ had done. "Papyrus, please, we can just be friends. You don't have to do this…" She pleaded.

They looked on in shock as Papyrus's eyes squinted in what looked like frustration or anger. "I HAVE FRIENDS ALREADY! I HAVE _PLENTY_ OF FRIENDS ALREADY! I DON'T NEED YOUR FRIENDSHIP!" He shouted before launching bone attacks at the girl rapidly. The girl kept her feet firmly in place and her eyes filled with determination. She broke every single attack he threw at her, making sure neither her friend nor she herself were injured further.

He looked annoyed with them, but he soon smirked. "WELL, LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE MY SPECIAL ATTACK!" He said before throwing his left arm out in the direction of the forest, as if he was going to catch something. Suddenly, a bone that looked exactly the same as all the others flew out of the woods and into his hand. He then realized there was a small white dog hanging off the bone and gnawing on it. He let out a furious yell as he threw the bone away as far as he could, far too frustrated to deal with that dog right now. He looked back at the human.

"Please…" She pleaded.

Her standing her ground seemed to be breaking him, his eyes were welling up with tears as he started to throw attacks at her as hard as he could. "I DON'T NEED TO BE FRIENDS WITH YOU! I DON'T WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH YOU! I'M FINE WITH THE COUNTLESS FRIENDS THAT I HAVE ALREADY! I HAVE SO MANY NOODLES IN THE POT AS IT IS, I DON'T NEED TWO MORE! I'M _FINE_!" His attacks stopped as he witnessed the older human get up and stand beside his fellow human. They both stared defiantly at him, as friends, and they weren't going to be taken down by him.

Papyrus broke down and fell to his knees. "I… I CANNOT LIE ANY LONGER HUMANS! I AM JEALOUS OF YOU BOTH! I AM ENVIOUS OF A FRIENDSHIP LIKE YOURS! OH HOW I WISH I COULD HAVE FRIENDS LIKE YOU!" He cried out and began crying into his large, gloved hands.

The humans looked at each other sadly before walking up to the sobbing skeleton. "It's okay, Papyrus." Frisk said softly, petting the top of his skull.

"Papyrus, you don't have to do this." AJ started softly. "You can be our friends, just _stop fighting please_."

The skeleton pulled his hands away slightly to look at them. "But… I want to become a member of the Royal Guard…" He said.

"And you can! You're 'The Great Papyrus', I'm sure you can get into the Royal Guard eventually!" The teen said with a smile. "But if you want to have friends like us, just be friends with _us_! You can be friends with us AND get into the Royal Guard, can't you?"

The skeleton sobbed. "I… Yes, I can." He answered.

"Then come on! Let's stop fighting and go back to your house!"

"And have our date!" The younger human added quickly, getting an odd look from her friend.

The skeleton looked up at them and smiled brightly. "Let's be friends now." AJ said with a smile.

Papyrus's eyes shined brightly. He loved the idea of being friends with them, and he couldn't argue with the older human's logic. There was no reason they couldn't be friends, the friends he wanted to have. "THAT SOUNDS LIKE A WONDERFUL IDEA!" He shouted gleefully before jumping up to a stand and hugging the two humans tightly. "WOWIE! I CAN'T BELIEVE I MADE TWO FRIENDS! WHO KNEW ALL I HAD TO DO TO MAKE FRIENDS WAS GIVE PEOPLE AWFUL PUZZLES, FIGHT THEM, AND THEN COLLAPSE INTO AN EMBARRASSING PUDDLE OF TEARS IN FRONT OF THEM!" He said cheerfully before letting go of them.

The taller human applied his hand to his face and let out a snort before shaking his head, while the shorter one just laughed out loud. With that, they all smiled and started walking back towards the house of sans and Papyrus. The humans were relieved they had gotten through the fight without anything really bad happening to anyone, though they were both surprised that had ended up being an actual fight. Papyrus felt bad that he didn't capture the humans, and he worried about how Undyne would react to this, but he was still happy to have made new friends out of the humans.

The oldest human was also happy he didn't get angry and try to kill the adorable skeleton.

* * *

They reached the large wooden house and the tall skeleton knocked loudly. "SANS! I'M BACK!" He shouted before opening the door and entering.

"Hey, bro." the shorter skeleton lazily greeted from the couch. "How'd it go with the humans?"

"IT WENT VERY WELL! THEY'RE MY NEW FRIENDS!" Papyrus answered happily before the two humans walked in and leaned past the monster to look at sans.

"Heyo!" AJ greeted with a peace sign.

"Hi, sans!" Frisk greeted with a wave.

Sans acted surprised. "Really? Well, hey there, humans. Glad everything worked out."

The room they stepped into first was the large living room. Straight ahead, past the random table with a rock on it, was the kitchen. To their left was the couch, tv, and the stairs at the far end. The stairs led up to two more rooms, which were more than likely separate rooms for the brothers.

"YES, EVERYTHING DID WORK OUT! I HAVE TWO NEW FRIENDS, AND I HAVE A DATE!" The loud skeleton exclaimed happily.

Sans raised an eyebrow at him. "A date?" He asked, not sure if he heard that right.

The older human stepped further into the living room with a sigh. "Frisk thought flirting with him was a good idea for some reason, so now they're going to have a date." He explained.

The laid back skeleton blinked twice as he took that in for a moment. "…Al…right then." He eventually said and relaxed back into the couch. "Have fun on your date then."

"NYEH HEH! LET'S GO, HUMAN!" Papyrus said before taking the child's hand and heading out with the smiling girl.

"I'm not expecting much from that." The teen commented as he sat down on the couch next to the skeleton.

Sans chuckled. "Between the two of them, they probably don't even know how to go on a proper date."

The human chuckled as well. "Heh. Me neither."

"Heh. Same."

There was silence for a few moments as they both stared at the tv, which was playing nothing but static. The silence was abruptly broken by the door swinging open and Papyrus marching back in. "Wait, why are we back here?" Frisk asked.

"WELL WE SURE AREN'T GOING TO GRILLBY'S, I HAVE STANDARDS!" Papyrus responded. "MY DATE DESERVES TO GO TO A PROPER DATING PLACE, MY ROOM! LET US GO!" He said before heading up the stairs, the smaller human following behind him. They went into the left room and shut the door.

Sans and AJ had never seen two people look so clueless about what they were doing. They didn't know how to date at all.

"Hey, sans?" The human started. "Are you okay with us staying here for the night?"

The skeleton seemed to think about it for a few moments. "I don't mind. You both have been nice so far, and you made my brother really happy so…" He smiled. "Nope, don't mind at all."

"Thank you." AJ said with a thankful nod.

"You're both gonna have to find a way to share the couch though." Sans pointed out.

The human looked at the couch they were sitting on. "Hmm. Never slept sitting down before." He commented, as if it would simply be a new experience for him. The skeleton smiled seeing that he didn't have a problem with that.

They both went quiet for a bit, the older human turning away from the monster to place his elbow on the armrest and prop his head up with his hand. The two in Papyrus's room could be heard through the door, though their voices and laughter were too muffled to understand what was going on.

"Do you hate me?" The teen asked quietly, not turning to face the one he was speaking to.

The skeleton turned to him with a shocked and confused expression. "W-What?... Why would I hate you?"

"I don't know, but people usually find a way." AJ responded. "Why else are you always giving me a fake smile?"

There was silence for a moment.

"W-…What fake smi-"

"Do not treat me like an idiot, sans." The human interrupted angrily, finally turning to face the monster so he could see his fed-up expression.

Sans's smile fell away and he just looked at the human with a stunned expression. "How? No one else can tell, how can you?"

"Because I've been having to do that quite a bit since I fell down here." The teen answered depressingly. "Makes it easy to see yours."

Sans chuckled. "No you haven't. You think you have, but you haven't." The human gave him a confused look. "When I first got a good look at you, your eyes were dark. They weren't the darkest things in the world, but they weren't all that bright, definitely not as bright as the kid's. But the thing is, just sitting here now I can see your eyes are brighter. Every second you've been around that girl your eyes have been getting a little brighter. It may be hard to smile sometimes, but she's having a big effect on you, I can tell. You're not like me, bud, you actually _are_ happy most of the time. You won't be faking smiles for much longer if you stay with that girl." He chuckled before adding. "And I'm pretty sure her eyes have somehow gotten even brighter around you as well."

Honestly, AJ didn't know how to respond to that, he just ended up repeating what the skeleton had said in his mind.

"Let me be clear, bud, I don't hate you, at all." Sans continued. "Like I've said, you're both pretty nice, and you did a favor for me that you didn't have to do. My fake smiles have nothing to do with you."

That last line brought the teen's mind back into focus and he faced the skeleton with a concerned look. "Is there anything I can do to help you, sans?" The skeleton turned away from him with a frown. "You know what? It's okay. Just tell me this, is it anything I can help you with or not? That's all you have to answer."

Sans turned back to him with a thoughtful expression. His thoughtful expression eventually faded away and he simply frowned at the kid. "Sorry, there's nothing you can do about my problems."

AJ frowned. "Okay… I wish you luck with whatever you have to deal with." He said sadly.

"Heh… thanks kid." The skeleton said with a weak smile.

(Home – Undertale OST)

"I'm not a kid." The teen said, squinting at him.

"Well, you're a kid to me." Sans countered.

"How old are you then?"

"You don't wanna know."

"Oh really? Why don't I wanna know?"

"Well, it's not so much that you don't wanna know, it's just that…" The skeleton suddenly smiled widely. "I don't have to guts to tell you."

The human was silent for a moment as he processed the fact that he just made that pun. "GOD DAMN IT SANS!" He shouted as he nearly fell off the couch laughing, causing sans to laugh as well. "I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU JUST DID THAT!"

"What? Did I tickle your _funny bone_?" The skeleton asked, grinning ear to non-existent ear.

"Shut up, damn it!" The teen demanded as his sides started to hurt. "Of all the times to be humorous!"

"Don't you mean… _humerus_?" Sans asked.

"Yes! Yes I do!" The laughing human answered.

It was at that moment that Frisk and Papyrus came back out from the room they were in, the human looking sad and the skeleton looking sorry. Then they looked down over the guard rails and saw the older human and monster hunched over in pain and laughing. They smiled at them before walking down the stairs. "WELL, I AM GOING TO MAKE SOME OF MY WONDEROUS SPAGHETTI!" Papyrus announced, walking towards the kitchen. "THE HUMANS NEED TO HEAL AFTER OUR FIGHT AFTER ALL. BUT AFTER THAT, WE SHOULD ALL GET SOME REST! IT IS GOING TO BE LATE SOON!"

The two eventually calmed down and were able to stop laughing. "Wait, how can you tell time down here? How does it get late?" AJ asked sans.

The skeleton responded by waving his hands in front of him. "Magic." He answered dramatically.

The older human rolled his eyes. "I guess I shouldn't have expected anything better than that."

"No, no you shouldn't have." Sans responded with a chuckle before walking up the stairs to his room.

The tall human noticed his fellow human walking up to him. "So, how did the date go?" He asked with an amused smile.

The girl sat down next to him and crossed her arms, looking down at the ground. "It didn't work out, okay?" She answered quickly with a frown.

He chuckled a bit. "What? Did you actually think that date was going anywhere?" He asked.

"No, but I thought it might be fun, and it wasn't fun." She complained before leaning back into the couch. "Well, I mean, it was fun until the end when he counter-friendzoned me."

He laughed a bit. "Ah yes, the old 'counter-friendzone'." He said jokingly. "But how did it go before that?"

"Well, like I said, fun, but…" The girl blushed and looked down in shame. "We had no idea what we were doing…" She whined, causing him to laugh out loud.

"Hahahaha! Oh that must have been awkward, I am so sorry!" He said, but he didn't seem sorry when he was laughing. The girl pouted at him, but that only made him laugh more. He stopped laughing when he smelled something burning. "What the heck?" The humans stood up to get a better look into the kitchen and saw Papyrus calmly burning whatever he was cooking. "Hey! Papyrus!"

"OH! HELLO, TALL HUMAN! CARE TO WATCH A MASTER CHEF AT WORK!?" Papyrus asked with his usual smile as the human walked into the kitchen.

"Papyrus, I'm pretty sure you don't burn things when you cook them!" AJ pointed out.

The skeleton waved him off. "OF COURSE YOU DO, HUMAN! THAT'S HOW IT GETS ITS TEXTURE AND STRONG FLAVOR!"

"Look, I hate to tell a chef how to cook, but my mom _never_ burned anything on purpose, and her food turns out really good." The teen explained, and the skeleton looked confused. "Look, could you at least experiment for tonight? See what happens when you _don't_ burn the noodles? And… everything else…" He suggested hopefully.

The skeleton hummed in thought, putting his hand to his chin. After a long moment, he decided. "YOU KNOW WHAT? SINCE YOU ARE MY NEW FRIEND, I WILL TRY THAT!" He decided, and the human breathed a huge sigh of relief before quickly getting away from the smoke. "THOUGH I WORRY WHAT THAT WILL DO TO THE TEXTURE." He sat back down on the couch next to his fellow human.

"Oh yeah, he gave me some spaghetti to try on our date." Frisk remembered.

"How was it?" AJ asked warily.

"Indescribable." She answered with a horrified look on her face. "But I couldn't bear to tell him that. I hope not burning the food helps a little."

Sans came out of his room eventually and sat back down on the couch with the humans. "Hey, sans?" The girl started. "Is Papyrus's spaghetti all we're going to have for food here?"

The skeleton rested his arms behind his skull. "Well, he doesn't really know how to make much else." He answered.

The girl's eyes widened before she leaned close to her fellow human and whispered in his ear. "We are _so_ not living here."

He let out a chuckle. "What, that's it? Just, you've decided, not happening?" Sans gained a curious look and walked over to see what Papyrus was doing differently to not create so much smoke. Frisk shook her head with a fearful look in her eyes. "Aww… but I kind of like it here."

"This is not home! This is so, so not home!" She whispered strongly. "Home has good food, but the only good food here isn't even here, it's at Grillby's! I don't have that much gold on me!"

He raised his hands in surrender. "You know what? I'll just take your word for it." He decided. "I don't know enough about cooking to turn him around and make his food any good, and not burning it isn't gonna suddenly make it good. I guess this'll just be another place we can visit once we do find a proper home. So we'll just continue our search in the morning?" He asked, and she nodded.

Eventually, Papyrus came over with three plates of spaghetti. He handed one to each person seated at the couch. "THERE YOU ARE! BONEAPPETIT!" He then froze, realizing what he had said. He looked down and saw his brother and the two humans grinning widely at him. "NOT. A. WORD." He warned, his teeth grinding together. They decided to obey and stay silent while Papyrus went to get his own plate of spaghetti.

The two humans stared at their food warily. The smell was repulsive. Sans took a bite and his eyes widened. "Wow! Bro, you have outdone yourself this time!" He exclaimed.

"I HAVE?" Papyrus asked, surprised, before staring at his own noodles. "HMM… BUT THEY LOOK WRONG, THE TEXTURE IS TOTALLY WRONG."

"It's just different, paps, try it." Sans requested.

Papyrus took a bite, and he chewed his food slowly, meticulously, taking in every detail he could about it. "HMM… I'M NOT SURE ABOUT THE TEXTURE, BUT I MUST ADMIT, THE FLAVOR IS MUCH BETTER." He decided calmly. The smaller skeleton was surprised he wasn't losing it over how wonderful it tasted as opposed to the usual. But he guessed it was just hard for his brother to get into the new concept.

The humans hesitantly took in a few noodles. The taste was as repulsive as the smell, but Frisk mentally noted how it tasted much better than before. They forced down the rest of their food and tried to not look as sick as they felt after eating it. Once everyone had eaten, sans turned off the lamp and the static-playing tv so the living room was dark enough for the humans.

(Home (Music Box) – Undertale OST)

"WELL, I WILL HAVE TO THINK ABOUT TRYING COOKING THAT WAY MORE OFTEN!" Papyrus exclaimed. "GOODNIGHT, HUMANS!" He said before heading up to his room.

""Goodnight!""

The humans noticed sans heading up into the larger skeleton's room as well, and he noticed the way they were looking at him. "Pap gets cranky without his bedtime story." He explained. Frisk "aww"d. "Goodnight." He said before closing the door to his brother's room.

* * *

Sans enjoyed his time with his brother, telling him his bedtime story filled with fluffy bunnies. Even now, the ending still gets him. The older, yet shorter, brother skeleton smiled as he closed the door to his brother's room once again. His pleasant smile went away when he looked down at the humans on the couch. They were both in awkward positions that would hurt their necks in the morning, all so they could make space for each other. Apparently they decided that sleeping while sitting wasn't going to happen. He shouldn't have cared, but he did for some reason. His slippers allowed him to step down the stairs without making a sound, and he approached the sleeping humans.

His worried expression grew when he heard the older human whimper in his sleep. It was clear he was having a nightmare, and sans wished to wake him up from it, but he thought about how difficult it must have been to get to sleep in a position like that, and didn't want the human to have to do that all over again. Suddenly, he remembered what he had heard Frisk say while he was watching them, something about petting him. 'Why would she pet him? Why would he like that? He's a human, not a dog.' The skeleton thought. As awkward as the idea was, he hated seeing the kid clearly suffering in whatever nightmare he was having.

He sighed. 'Screw it.' He reached his hand out slowly and allowed his boney fingers to comb through the teen's thick hair. 'Huh… it's really soft…' He still felt weird petting the human, but then he noticed AJ smile a bit in his sleep. The human relaxed, and when he pulled his hand away, the human stayed relaxed. 'Did… did that actually help him?' He stared at both the humans and the positions they were in, they still looked uncomfortable, nightmares or not.

'Alright, this is ridiculous.' He thought as his left hand glowed blue. He raised his hand into the air, using gentle telekinesis to raise the humans out of the couch. 'I understand wanting to give each other space, or feeling awkward being close to the each other, but whatever your reasons, you are both gonna hurt if I let you stay like that.' Something he had learned was that as long as he was gentle with his telekinesis, they wouldn't feel what he was doing. He set the tall human down across the entire couch, which was the kind of space he really needed. Then he set the younger one softly on top of him. It was the most comfortable sleeping positions they'd be able to have on a couch. He stared at them for a moment and smiled ever so slightly. 'They really do look like brother and sister.' He noticed before quietly walking back up the stairs and into his own room.

Frisk woke up briefly. She clung to the boy tightly as tears welled up in her eyes, as if he would get taken away from her if she let go.

* * *

 **You know, someday, when we get near the end of this fanfic, you'll see that when I** ** _want_** **to write a fight scene, I go** ** _WILD_** **with it! But when I don't care to write a fight scene? When it's just something that I need to do? IT IS THE HARDEST THING FOR ME TO DO AND I HATE IT SO MUCH. If I had some grand idea for this fight, I could have gone on so long with it, put so much detail into it, and I would have actually liked it! But this? I hated every damn word I wrote once it got to the fighting part! AGH! I shortened it so much because I couldn't stand to write it! MAN, the weirdest thing is I never have had THIS much trouble writing a fight scene before! Maybe it's because I hated every second of it? IDK. Whatever! I'm so glad I can move on from that! *Sigh* On a happier note, I can live with the dialogue at the start and end of it, so that's nice.**

 **I had this** ** _massive_** **thing explaining why Papyrus acted the way he did, anticipating the OOC complaints. But, for the sake of your eyes, I removed all that, because you know what? This is an AU, if the characters end up being a bit different, oh well, it's not the end of the world.**

 **Well, that's plenty enough talking for this chapter. On to the next one.**

 **Hope you had a good week and that your next one is great!**

(For some dumb reason it said the format wasn't right (WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN) and I had to copy and paste this whole stupid thing I'm irritated right now I hope this didn't screw up anything)


	11. Goodbye, Snowdin

**So, here's a surprise for ya. To make up for the terrible fight in the last chapter and the fact that it took two weeks to get a chapter to you all with the only reason basically being laziness…**

 **…** **HERE'S ANOTHER CHAPTER EARLY! Let's get this story moving again!**

 **(side note, that last chapter had us reaching 5000 views, not long after getting 50 follows, and just as we hit 50K words. That's** ** _3_** **fives!... Illuminati confirmed)**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.11

* * *

The older human slowly woke up as morning sun(?)light came in through the windows. He quickly realized something was different. The position he was in wasn't as uncomfortable as it had been, though his neck was definitely a bit stiff still, and he was really warm. He then realized Frisk was lying on top of him and he blushed. 'What the-' He grabbed the girl and went to push her off of him and back to her side of the couch, only she started to cling to him really tightly, and he couldn't pry her off. He sighed in annoyance and relaxed, wracking his brain for a way out of this. She may have been warm, and her sweater may have been soft, but this was embarrassing for him and he wanted her off of him before someone saw.

With that thought, sans appeared near the couch with a big grin on his face.

'Well, so much for that.' "Sans! Help!" The teen whispered.

"Aww. You two look cute cuddling like that." The skeleton teased, and the human started to actually feel his face burning.

"This isn't funny! Would you please help get her off me!" He pleaded.

The skeleton hummed in thought. "I don't know if I should. She looks pretty comfortable there."

"And I'm _un_ comfortable!" AJ countered.

"Mmmmnah. You can deal with that yourself." Sans decided.

"GOOD MORNING, WORLD!" Papyrus shouted from in his room.

The shorter skeleton glanced at his brother's door. "Can't have pap know I actually wake up at a decent hour, let alone this early. See ya." He said before vanishing from sight, presumably back to his own room.

The louder skeleton threw open his door and noticed the guests. "GOOD MORNING, HUMANS!" He shouted, and Frisk slowly woke up from the loud noise. "HOW WOULD YOU BOTH LIKE TO HAVE SOME OF MY WONDEROUS SPAGHETTI FOR BREAKFAST!?" He asked with a smile.

The girl's eyes widened in fear before turning to her fellow human. "We have to get out of here!" She whispered fearfully, suddenly wide awake.

He would have laughed at how dramatic she was being if he wasn't afraid to get near any more of Papyrus's 'amazing' spaghetti as well. "No arguments here." He agreed. The girl hopped onto the floor so he could stand up and turn to the skeleton as he was putting on his apron that had a piece of paper that said "Nyeh heh heh!" taped onto it. "Actually, Papyrus, we're not gonna be able to stick around for breakfast with you guys. We wanna explore and see the rest of the Underground."

"SO SOON? BUT MY SPAGHETTI WILL GIVE YOU STRENGTH FOR YOUR JOURNEY!" Papyrus argued.

"Don't worry about us, we have enough food for the journey." AJ responded.

Papyrus wanted to argue more, but he hesitantly gave in. "ALRIGHT. WELL, PLEASE DO VISIT SOMETIME SOON!" He requested.

"We will!" The younger human said with a smile.

"Absolutely." The other human agreed with a nod. "Say goodbye to sans for us."

"WILL DO! AS SOON AS THE LAZYBONES DECIDES TO WAKE UP…" The skeleton complained.

The two humans walked out of the brothers' house and stepped onto the snow covered street once again. "We are going to visit, right?" AJ asked.

"Of course!" Frisk responded. "His food may be bad, but we'd be bad friends if we didn't visit!"

"Ok, just making sure. I do want to visit after all." He commented. They began to walk out of town, down the path they had fought Papyrus on.

The girl held out her phone for a moment. "Well he gave me his phone number, so if you ever miss him, we can call him." She said with a teasing smile.

"You got his number, huh? Are you sure there isn't gonna be a second date?" He asked with his own teasing smile.

"Oh be quiet, you." She pouted, making him laugh a bit.

* * *

They passed the point where they fought the skeleton, and soon reached the entrance to a cave. They were already inside an incredibly massive cave, and yet they were about to enter another. They walked down a long path once they entered the cave. There was a river next to them, with a large cube of ice drifting down the waters alongside them. There was no snow in here, and the place was becoming more of a damp marsh by the second. Water poured down from holes in the cave-within-a-cave, and there was the occasional strange glowing crystal sticking out of the mud floor or the walls.

Eventually the river beside them turned left and went away from them, while they continued onward, and reached a small area in the marsh-like cave that seemed like a room in a way. Strange, how the ruins, and the forest, and now this place all seem to be split into room-like areas generally. In the room was a small waterfall to their right, with that monster kid with the striped shirt standing next to it and observing the water as it flowed into the dark depths below. To the left was a wall rather than a cliff, and a fish monster stood nearby, near some large light blue flower. At the end of the room before the path shrunk and continued on, was sans, at another wooden station. There was still snow on the roof of it.

The dinosaur kid noticed them and turned to them with a smile. He looked like he would have waved at them, if he had arms. "Yo! Are you two sneaking out to see her, too?" He asked. The confused humans simply nodded, making the kid become ecstatic. "Awesome! She's the coolest, right!? I wanna be just like her when I grow up!" He said, jumping with excitement for a moment. "Hey, don't tell my parents I'm here. Ha ha." He turned and went back to admiring the waterfall.

Not sure how to react to that, the humans turned and kept walking. They walked around the waterfall, which cut into the room, and passed by the fish and the flower that stood at Frisk's height. The monster noticed their interest in the flower. "This is an echo flower." He said with a bubbling voice. "It repeats the last thing it heard, over and over." Curious, the child touched the flower, and it shimmered for a moment. "This is an echo flower. It repeats the last thing it heard, over and over." The flower repeated perfectly.

"Whoa! Cool!" The younger human exclaimed, and her fellow human smirked before touching the flower. "Whoa! Cool!" It repeated, and the girl laughed. "Determination!" She shouted happily before noticing sans sleeping at his station. "He sleeps…" She whispered before patting him lightly, apparently finding him cute.

AJ smirked. "HEY, SANS!" He shouted, and the skeleton jolted awake with a panicked expression before noticing the two hood-wearing humans standing before his station.

(sans. – Undertale OST)

"Oh, hey guys." He greeted with a smile.

"Why did you do that?" Frisk asked, annoyed with her friend.

"No reason." He answered with a false smile aimed right at sans.

The short skeleton chuckled. "Heh. What's wrong, buddy?"

The teen shrugged. "Eh, nothing really. Everything worked out in the end. I just wanted to make sure you remembered." He added with a smile.

He let out another chuckle, understanding what he meant. "Well, how about I make it up to you? Wanna head over to Grillby's for some grub?"

The two humans looked at each other. "Sure!" The shorter one answered.

"Yeah we haven't actually eaten yet now that I think about it." AJ realized.

"Well I guess this is perfect timing then." Sans said, hoping out of his chair and stepping away from his station. "Come on, I know a shortcut." He took their hands, and suddenly the whole world shifted. The humans felt themselves get thrown around like they were in a washing machine before abruptly stopping. The two humans stumbled for a moment, trying to regain their bearings. Eventually the world stopped spinning and they realized they were in fact back at Grillby's.

"Oh, so that's what it feels like…" The teen mumbled, still a little dizzy.

"Fast shortcut, huh?" The lazy skeleton commented before turning to the rest of the bar. "Hey, everyone."

Dogamy and Dogaressa turned and smiled at the skeleton. "Hey, sans." Said Dogamy.

"Hi, sans." Greeted Dogaressa.

The monster and the two humans continued further into the bar, where the drunk rabbit noticed them. "Hiya, sansy~"

This was quickly followed by the mouth monster. "Greetings, sans."

The trio reached the seats at the bar when the bird monster that isn't a translator for Grillby noticed them and squinted at sans. "Hey, sans, weren't you just here for breakfast a few minutes ago?" He asked.

"Nah, I haven't had breakfast in at least half an hour." Sans responded before winking. "You must be thinking of brunch." The majority of the bar broke out in laughter while the skeleton turned to the humans. "Here, get comfy." The humans sat down, and the sound of a whoopee cushion was heard. Oddly enough, this wasn't funny to Frisk when she was just plain being pranked. "Whoops, watch where you sit down." Sans warned. "Sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seats." The girl looked fairly upset with him if that pout and glare meant anything, but he ignored that. "Anyway, let's order. Whaddya want?"

"Fries. Definitely fries." The older human answered immediately.

The younger human let out a sigh of annoyance before moving on from that. "I'll have fries too."

Sans chuckled. "Sounds like you both've already had a taste of the fries here, huh? That's fair, Grillby makes some pretty mean fries. Hey, Grillbz, we'll have a triple order of fries." He requested, and the bartender nodded before walking off.

"Finally, I get fries all to myself." AJ whispered happily, and Frisk giggled at that.

The skeleton made use of a comb for some reason before turning to the two humans sitting next to him. "So what'dya two think of my brother?" He asked.

"He's adorable!" Frisk exclaimed with a giggle.

"He's nice. He's… pretty cool." AJ answered.

"Of course he's cool. You'd be cool too if you wore that outfit every day." Sans said with a grin. "He'd only take that thing off if he absolutely had to. Well, at least he washes it. And by that I mean he wears it in the shower." They all laughed at that while Grillby brought back three boxes of fries. "Thanks, Grillbz. Either of you want some ketchup?"

"Absolutely please." The teen answered before taking the ketchup bottle from him. The moment he squeezed the bottle, the cap fell out and all the ketchup poured onto his fries. "Aw crap." He commented before carefully removing the ketchup covered cap and staring at his fries.

"You want mine?" Sans asked.

"No, it's okay." The older human said. "I'm just worried some of this ketchup might go to waste, cause that would be a shame." He said before taking out a fry that was coated in ketchup on one side and eating it without issue. The three began to eat their fries.

"So… what exactly are you two planning to do?" Sans asked curiously as they ate.

"Well, like we said, we're looking for a home." AJ answered.

"And ours isn't good enough for ya?" Sans asked, seemingly offended.

"Oh don't be like that, sans! It really is good, it's just… um…" Frisk looked for a way to word this appropriately.

"Papyrus isn't a good cook yet." The older one said, having no problem being blunt.

The skeleton smiled. "Yeah, I know. Not everyone can put up with his cooking. I do, because it makes him happy, but I get that that might still drive you two away."

"But we _will_ visit, I promise!" Frisk said quickly.

"I'm sure you will." Sans said with certainty. "Anyway, cool or not, you have to agree that Papyrus tries real hard. Like how he keeps trying to be a part of the Royal Guard. One day, he went to the house of the Head of the Royal Guard, and begged her to let him be in it. Of course, she shut the door on him cause it was midnight. But the next day, she woke up and saw him still waiting there. Seeing his dedication, she decided to give him warrior training. It's uh… still a work in progress." He said before chuckling a bit.

The tall human smiled as he tried to put things in perspective a bit. He and this child were talking with a literal talking skeleton. They were casually speaking with a member of a race of monsters that no other humans knew existed. He wasn't scary at all, neither was his brother. They were able to talk with these monsters so easily, most of them weren't even being mean to them. They weren't like humans at all, he was actually getting along with them, and he wasn't afraid to talk to them. It was… interesting for him, to say the least, to be talking to people so easily.

"Hey, Frisk, while I'm thinking about it, we should go check out the library before we leave." He spoke up.

"Oh yeah! I forgot we had passed by that!" The girl remembered. "Sure, we can go there after this."

The skeleton hummed in thought. "Hey..." He said suddenly, speaking unusually quiet. "Have you guys heard of a talking flower?" He asked seriously. The seriousness kept them quiet, but they nodded. "So you know all about it, the Echo Flowers. They're all over the marsh, and if you say something to them, they'll repeat it, over and over."

"Um… w-what about it?" Frisk asked hesitantly.

"Well, Papyrus told me something interesting the other day." Sans said. "Sometimes, when no one else is around… a flower appears and whispers things to him. Flattery, advice, encouragement… predictions. Weird, huh? Someone must be using an echo flower to pull a prank on my brother. Keep an eye out, okay?" He requested, and they nodded. With that, the seriousness left his expression and he smiled at them. "Good, thanks! Man, that was a long break! I can't believe I let ya pull me away from work for that long." They rolled their eyes as he got up from his seat. "I better get back so pap can 'wake me up.' Hey, I'm actually flat broke, can either of you foot the bill?" The skeleton asked suddenly.

The two humans looked shocked and outraged. "I thought you were doing this to make up for-"

"Hey, come on, bud. It's not that bad." Sans cut him off. "It's only 15000 gold."

"They weren't 5000 before though…" Frisk mumbled, confused.

The human smiled and rolled his eyes again. "Yeah okay, no, we're not paying for that." He decided.

"Heh, I'm just kidding anyway. Grillby, put it on my tab." He said before starting to walk away. He stopped in the middle of the building and hummed in thought again. He seemed to reach a conclusion before turning back to them. "I was going to say something…

…but I forgot." He smiled before walking away.

With their food eaten and their friend gone, the humans had nothing else to do but get up and leave the building. "Huh. You know, if I hadn't decided to go to the library, I would be pretty annoyed that sans is making us walk out of town again and not just shortcutting us back." The teen commented, and his fellow human chuckled a bit.

* * *

They reached the library, with the sign above it saying "Librarby." The library wasn't that big. There was only one table to sit at and most of the seats were taken up by monsters they had never seen before. "Welcome to the library." Said the monster behind the desk. "Yes, we know the sign is misspelled." She commented before they could.

The two cloaked humans walked over to the back wall, which was lined with bookshelves. "So why did you want to come here?" Frisk asked.

"I want to learn about monsters, if I can." AJ whispered, looking over the titles of the books at each shelf. He found one from five out of the six shelves that seemed interesting enough to read. He sat down against the wall to read them, and the girl sat down next to him to read along.

The first was a school report about monster funerals. "Monster funerals, technically speaking, are cool as heck. When monsters get old and kick the bucket, they turn into dust. At funerals, we take that dust and spread it on that person's favorite thing. Then their essence will live on in that thing. Uhhh, am I at the page minimum yet? I'm kind of sick of writing this."

"They turn to dust?" The older human commented.

"That's… weird." Frisk whispered.

The second was a comparison between the make-up of humans and monsters. "While monsters are mostly made of magic, human beings are mostly made of water. Humans, with their physical forms, are far stronger than us. But they will never know the joy of expressing themselves through diverse magics. They will never get a bullet-pattern birthday card."

"I'm pretty sure there's nothing stopping us." AJ commented.

The third was titled "MONSTER SOULS." "Because they are made of magic, monsters' bodies are attuned to their Soul. If a monster does not want to fight, its defenses will weaken. And the crueler the intentions of our enemies, the more their attacks will hurt us. Therefore, if a being with a powerful soul struck with the desire to kill… Um, let's end the chapter here…"

"Well that's an unfortunate side effect of being made of magic." The teen commented.

"Yeah." Frisk agreed.

The fourth was titled "MONSTER HISTORY PART 4." "Fearing the humans no longer, we moved out of our old city, HOME. We braced harsh cold, damp swampland, and searing heat… until we reached what we now call our capital. NEW HOME. Again, our king is really bad at names…?

""I'll say."" The two humans said simultaneously, causing them both to burst out laughing, silently. This is a library after all.

The last was titled "WHAT MONSTER SOULS ARE MADE OF." "Love, hope, compassion… This is what people say monster souls are made of. But the absolute nature of SOUL is unknown. After all, humans have proved their SOUL's don't need these things to exist."

"Oof! It's about ten degrees cooler in this shade." AJ whispered, getting a laugh from the young one. 'So this is why most of these monsters are so nice and why I'm able to talk to them so easily. They're souls are made of love and compassion. Those dogs in armor and some other monsters tried to kill us, but I think they know we're humans. It's pretty clear the monster living in town don't.' "Well, I'm glad we came here."

"Yeah. I learned a lot!" Frisk agreed. They put the books back where they found them before leaving. They walked out of town again, into the marsh-like cave, again, and were finally able to walk past sans's station.

"We should hang out again sometime." He commented as they walked by.

* * *

 **Alright, it's time to finally move on from the Snowdin area.**

 **Have a good day everyone! You'll see me again next Saturday, as usual.**

(ok it's doing it again with the wrong format crap is this happening to anyone else I'm not doing anything different)


	12. Hello, Waterfall

**In a way, I guess you could say the Snowdin path was kind of like an arc of humor. In that case, we are beginning the Waterfall "arc", the arc of beauty.**

 **Don't hold me to that though- that isn't the actual focus or anything. XD Comedy can still be a thing, sans does appear in Waterfall after all.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.12

* * *

They continued down the mud path and reached a much larger waterfall, though with this one the current of the water totally blocked their path. There was also a small wooden bridge that extended out over the dark abyss to their right for no good reason. "Well, I'm not taking any risks. Let's jump over the water." The teen said.

"Yeah, let's be safe." Frisk agreed. She looked at the water with worry. "Actually… I'm not sure I can jump that."

"Hmm." AJ hummed in thought. "Well, climb on my back then." He said, crouching in front of her. "I should be able to make the jump with the magic helping out and all."

"Should?" The girl repeated as she climbed up.

She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and he hooked his arms under her legs. "Well I'm not gonna lie and say that I'm sure." He said as he turned around and walked a good distance away from the water before turning around and getting ready to run. "Alright, here we go." After psyching himself up, he began running as fast as he could towards the waterfall. With a yell, he jumped as high as he could and flew over the water, landing on the other side. "Woo! I did it!" He cheered as he let the girl climb down.

"Good job!" She complimented him.

"Why thank you." He said with an overdramatic bow.

They walked for awhile longer before coming across a large amount of what looked like sea grass in the way. They began to push through it when they heard a voice above them. "H- HI, UNDYNE! I'M HERE WITH MY DAILY REPORT!" Papyrus said with a fearful tone. "IT'S UHHH… REGARDING THAT HUMAN I CALLED YOU ABOUT YESTERDAY." Someone else spoke to the skeleton, but the humans could barely hear them, let alone make out what they were saying. "I-I KNOW, I'M SORRY, UNDYNE. MY B-BATTLE WITH THE HUMANS TOOK LONGER THAN I THOUGHT. I-I-I FOUGHT THEM… VALIANTLY! BUT…" "D-DID I CAPTURE THEM? W-WELL… NO… I TRIED MY VERY BEST, UNDYNE, BUT IN THE END… I FAILED… THE TWO HUMANS WERE TOO STRONG FOR ME…" "YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE THE HUMANS' SOULS YOURSELF? BUT UNDYNE, YOU DON'T H-HAVE TO DESTORY THEM! YOU SEE… YOU… YOU SEE…" "… I UNDERSTAND… I'LL HELP YOU IN ANY WAY I CAN." He said hesitantly. Then they heard someone walking away.

The humans didn't know what to do. They waited a few seconds before walking forward, causing the grass to rustle. The loud metal footsteps in response were immediate, and both the humans froze, ducking deep into the grass so they wouldn't be seen. Some large imposing figure in metal armor stood up above them, looking down into the grass. It created a spear in its hand, and the terrified humans waited. Eventually, the figure dissipated their spear and backed away before walking away entirely. Once they were certain that person was far away, they stepped out of the grass.

Before they could comment on how terrifying that was, that monster kid ran out of the grass as well, shaking with excitement. "Yo… did you see the way she was staring at you two? That… was AWESOME! I'm sooo jealous! What'd you do to get her attention? Haha. C'mon! Let's go watch her beat up some bad guys!" He ran on ahead excitedly, but in his excitement he tripped and fell. Having no arms, he fell flat on his face. "I'm okay!" He exclaimed as he got back up and continued running down the path.

AJ turned and looked at his fellow human. "I _really_ hope we don't have to fight her." He commented.

He noticed she was looking back up to where Undyne was fearfully. She turned back to him and forced her fears away. "Determination." She said as confidently as she could. "We just have to stay determined."

(Waterfall – Undertale OST)

The path ahead was truly a heavy marsh at this point, and it seemed like it would stay that way. The glowing crystals in the walls were becoming more common. The lights of the crystals allowed them to see some text that was written into the walls. "When four Bridge Seeds align in the water, they will sprout." There was a clear gap and another waterfall ahead of them. This whole time, their right side had always been a cliff for the water to fall over.

"Well, there's no Papyrus to make happy, so screw the sprouts." The teen commented before jumping across the small gap. He saw Frisk was hesitant. "Come on, Frisk. There's no reason to do this puzzle now if we can jump over it."

"But it's fun to do puzzles." She argued.

"Yeah, I know, but this isn't even a puzzle, it's just a preview, showing us how the puzzle works." He responded. "Come on, I don't like wasting time with a dumb puzzle like this." The girl sighed before hoping over. "You know, these crystals are actually really pretty." He noted. Looking out to their right, into the darkness, they could see many crystals far away from them, little lights in the darkness, like stars.

"Wow!" The child said in awe. They admired the view for a few more seconds before moving on. Before they could admire the next room, however, a monster got in their way. The monster was literally a seahorse with flowing hair, huge muscles, and ridiculous abs.

"Hey there, I'm Aaron! ;)" He said before winking. "Want to have a flexing contest? ;)" He asked before winking, again.

"Um… okay?" AJ answered hesitantly. 'What even?'

"Sure!" Frisk answered.

"Alright! Let's see what you got! ;)" Aaron requested.

The two humans flexed awkwardly.

"Not bad! But I'm still better! ;)" He flexed strongly.

The older human was so not into this, but he tried harder anyway and the girl did the same.

"You're both pretty good! But I still won't lose to you two! ;)" Aaron flexes again, and his muscles grow to a ridiculous size. Suddenly, his muscles popped, and air starts leaking out of them like popped balloons. The air sends him flying out of the room like a deflated balloon as well. He was gone.

The humans could only look at each other strangely. "…What?" AJ asked simply.

"I… am not gonna question that." Frisk decided before taking his hand and walking onward.

"Yeah… that's probably a good idea…" He agreed before walking beside her. 'Some things just can't be explained, today I have accepted this.'

They walked across a wooden bridge and were now in a large 'room.' For once, there wasn't a cliff to their right, or anywhere, really. They stood on a decently-sized landmass surrounded by water. There were bright glowing mushrooms scattered around the place as well as the crystals, and the door onward was blocked off by a very small amount of water. More of those seeds were in the area.

"Frisk, do you honestly expect me to do this?" He asked while pointing towards the water with his free hand. "I think I could jump across this with a running start and no magic anyway!"

The girl sighed. "Okay, okay, fine. We won't do this one."

"Thank you." He said with relief before they easily jumped across the water.

Suddenly, Frisk's phone rang. She pulled out her phone and answered on speaker. "Hello?"

"HELLO! THIS IS PAPYRUS!" The familiar voice of the skeleton answered.

"We could tell." AJ deadpanned, and Frisk had to hold back a laugh.

"How did you get my number? I never gave you mine." The girl asked.

"OH IT WAS EASY! I JUST DIALED EVERY NUMBER SEQUENTIALLY UNTIL I GOT YOURS! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus answered. "SO… WHAT ARE YOU BOTH WEARING? I'M… ASKING FOR A FRIEND." He added suspiciously.

The humans glanced at each other. They knew he was being forced to work with Undyne to try and catch them. "We uh, we ditched our cloaks. We don't really need them since it isn't cold here." The taller human answered. The cloaks did have a use here actually. Frisk had kicked up some mud by accident that flew right at her friend, but his cloak had literally repelled it.

"AH, SO YOU ARE NO LONGER WEARING YOUR CLOAKS. GOT IT. WINK WINK. HAVE A NICE DAY." Papyrus said before hanging up.

The humans smiled at this. "Good, Papyrus gets it." AJ commented.

"Yeah! He knows we're lying, but he's really on our side, so its fine!" The younger human said happily.

"Maybe with his help, Undyne will leave us alone." The older human hoped.

* * *

They went through into the next room and were mystified at what they saw. The room was dark, so the few echo flowers in it stood out. But what really amazed them was the vast amount of glowing crystals in the pitch black ceiling. It truly looked like they were staring up into the night sky. "Uh… can we stop for a few minutes?" The teen asked without looking down.

The girl chuckled. "You're asking me? Of course!" The two lied down on top of their cloaks so the mud wouldn't get on them, and they smiled with sparkling eyes as they stared up at the lights above them.

"This is amazing. I didn't expect to find something so beautiful down here." AJ commented in awe.

"Yeah. This place is so pretty!" Frisk agreed.

"I mean, did the monsters put the crystals up there themselves or… is this really a natural formation?" He asked curiously. The idea of this being natural amazed him. He hoped it was natural, but even if it wasn't, that wouldn't take away its beauty.

After some time, they decided that they needed to move on, so they got up from the muddy floor. They turned to the nearest echo flower and touched it. "A long time ago, monsters would whisper their wishes to the stars in the sky. If you hoped with all your heart, your wish would come true. Now, all we have are these sparkling stones on the ceiling." The echo flower echoed some unknown voice.

They passed by the text they had seen on the wall that said "WISHING ROOM" and touched the next flower. "Thousands of people wishing together can't be wrong! The king will prove that!"

There were two more echo flowers near a telescope. They touched one. "C'mon, sis! Make a wish!" They touched the other. "I wish my sister and I will see the stars someday."

""Aww."" The two humans said quietly, as to not ruin the moment the flowers held within.

They went to use the telescope, but then they noticed a monster in the corner of the hall. It was cleaning… a pizza? It turned around and noticed their presence. "Out, darned spots!" It exclaimed. The monster looked something like a living bathtub with a small round head sticking out of it. For some reason there was a small bird sitting on a small pedestal above the swishing waters of the bathtub. Those same waters splashed up out of the tub and fell towards the humans, who jumped around to avoid the liquids. If tears could hurt them, there's no reason this water couldn't.

"Agh! He's trying to clean us from existence!" AJ exclaimed as he dodged the water that splashed around them.

Some of the water splashed onto Frisk's leg and it burned her. She winced in pain. "Hey, do you just want to clean us?" She asked.

"Yes! Yes!" It answered enthusiastically.

"Alright then! Clean us!" The girl requested with open arms.

The monster jumped around enthusiastically. "Green means clean!" It said as two massive drops of green water shot out and fell towards them. They stood still fearfully as they got drenched by the water drops. Suddenly, the water evaporated away, and they were sparkling clean. They even smelled fresh. Seeing them clean, the monster hopped away happily.

The younger human noticed the crack in her soul had been fixed. 'Well that was nice of him.' She thought. She quickly went over and looked through the telescope. "Wow! So pretty!" Through the telescope it really felt like she was looking up at a starry night sky. She remembered her friend and moved out of the way so he could look through it. They soon ran out of things to admire and were met with a dead end. "Is this it?" She asked.

"This can't be it, right? There's nowhere else to go!" He exclaimed. He squinted in thought before he decided to push the wall. The portion of the wall that he touched fell forward, allowing them to walk through. "Ha! I thought so!" On the other side of the wall was a wooden dock, surrounded by water with reeds sticking out all over. The dock was against a wall, which had ancient writings on it. It was admittedly hard to read because of the strange font it was written in, but the humans managed to make out the words.

"The War of Humans and Monsters" was all the first one read.

"Oh? An ancient history lesson?" The teen guessed before they read on.

"Why did the humans attack? Indeed, it seemed they had nothing to fear. Humans are unbelievably strong. It would take the SOUL of nearly every monster just to equal the power of a single human SOUL."

"Well clearly that doesn't stop them from knocking us senseless." AJ commented, thinking about the massive Greater Dog.

"But humans have one weakness. Ironically, it is the strength of their SOUL. Its power allows it to persist outside the human body, even after death. If a monster defeats a human, they can take its SOUL. A monster with a human SOUL… A horrible beast with unfathomable power." Next to that last writing was another place that seemed to hold a drawing, but it was broken apart and they could not see what was drawn.

"Well, I guess that would explain the war. I wouldn't put it past ancient humans to do something like that and I wouldn't really put it past modern humans to do that." The teen commented dryly.

"But the monsters are so nice, they would never take anyone's soul." Frisk argued.

"Yeah, well, we don't know that every monster is super nice. Besides, humans wouldn't care. The threat alone would cause them to look past that detail and kill them all anyway." He explained.

With nothing else to read, all the humans had was the dead end of the wooden dock. There was another one far away, across the water, but they couldn't jump that far. Luckily, there was a small floating wooden platform that looked usable. The humans jumped on it and their momentum carried them to the other wooden walkway over the water. Strangely, the floating wood immediately floated back to where they were and left them there. From what they could see, the long wooden path winded with little reason ahead of them. There was a solid ground path across the water to their left, with a bunch of large stone pillars.

"You know, I'd kind of rather get to that solid land over walking on this. This wooden thing just seems structurally weak." AJ commented as they began to walk down the path.

"Maybe it's made of magic and it can't break?" Frisk wondered.

"Yeah, maybe, but still-" *CRACK* A large blue spear of energy suddenly stuck into the wood plank in front of them, causing them both to jump and let out a scream. They noticed something in the corner of their vision and saw a familiar figure of metal armor staring at them from behind the pillars. The teen quickly pulled out his machete. "Hey, back off! We didn't do anything to you!" The figure created a spear in their hand before throwing it, but he deflected it. Undyne paused for a moment before creating three spears above her head and launching them. The human dodged one and deflected the other two in one swing. 'Stop doing that!' He mentally complained when his body moved on its own for a moment. Undyne's body language showed she was annoyed, and she created about ten spears above her. "BYE!" The teen shouted fearfully before picking up the girl and _running._

Undyne actually paused for a moment as she watched the human run really fast. She herself had to run to keep up with them, making it a bit more difficult to create and throw spears at them. The older human kept looking over his shoulder as he ran, ducking and jumping over the spears that were launched at him while running along the ridiculously designed path. He hissed in pain when one just barely cut his side, but he kept running. Eventually the wooden path ended and they were back on solid land. He quickly ran into another field of sea grass and ducked down low, letting go of Frisk.

Undyne's metal feet stomped towards them as she got onto their path and approached the grass. The panting human got his blade ready for a surprise attack, but the armor wearing warrior stopped just before she got to them. She suddenly struck her hand into the grass, and pulled a familiar monster kid out of the grass. Undyne grunted in frustration before putting the kid back down and walking away. Once they were sure she was gone, the humans slowly walked out of the grass. They leaned against the wall and took a moment to calm down after their near death experience. Frisk mentally noted that the glowing crystals are actually a bit painful to look at when one is right in your face.

"YO!" The kid practically screamed before jumping out of the grass, shaking like a leaf from sheer happiness and excitement. "Undyne just… TOUCHED ME! I'm never washing my face ever again!" He turned to the recovering humans. "Man, are you two unlucky! If you had been just a little bit further back. Yo, don't worry though! I'm sure we'll see her again!" He ran ahead and fell flat on his face. "I'm okay!"

"I don't wanna see her again…" The teen whined as the monster ran off. He looked down when he saw the girl holding something up to him.

"Here." She said, handing him a cinnamon bun.

"A cinna-bun? But I only got hit once!" He pointed out.

"Just take it!" She requested. "We have plenty of them left!"

He let out a sigh. "Fine." He enjoyed his cinnamon treat as they walked onward and into the hall ahead of them. There was a point in the hall that looked remarkably similar to that one hall in the ruins with the cheese on a table. This time, however, while there was a slice of cheese on a table, that cheese was encased in crystal for some reason. The teen noticed the mouse hole in the corner. "Alright, is this the same freaking mouse or something!?" He asked, confused.

"If so, then that one mouse has all this food that he's having a hard time getting at." Frisk noted sadly as she was crouched near the hole. The human stood up and took a step back. "Rather you're the same mouse or not, I'm just gonna keep saying it! You can do it, mouse!" She cheered. "As long as you have, DETERMINATION!"

"How is determination gonna help him get through a solid crystal?" The taller human asked.

"Determination can do amazing things, AJ! You just have to believe!" She shouted with enthusiasm, throwing her arms up in the air. Her friend rolled his eyes in amusement before they continued down the damp hall. They both smiled as they walked into the room and realized that the crystals on the ceiling were not exclusive to that one room. They also noticed a familiar skeleton standing next to a telescope.

"Hey there Frisk, AJ." Sans greeted with a wave.

"Hey, sans!" Frisk greeted.

"Sans? Didn't expect you here." AJ commented.

"Well you see, I am trying to get into the telescope business." The skeleton explained. "It's normally 50000 gold to use this premium telescope. But you know what?" He winked. "Since you're my friends, I'll let you use it for free. How's that sound?"

The child gasped. "Cool!" She said before quickly making use of the telescope. Her enthusiasm left her body language and her expression suddenly. She turned to the skeleton. "Sans! There's nothing there!" She complained.

The skeleton looked to be trying to hold back his laughter, and the older human didn't quite get why. He wasn't surprised that the telescope was fake though. Then he understood when Frisk turned back to him. He let out a snort, but he quickly controlled himself and looked over her head to the monster behind her. "Sans!" He said in a scolding tone. The grinning skeleton silently motioned for him to say nothing about the mark on Frisk's face, before acting causal when the girl turned back to him.

"What? Did he do something else?" The confused girl asked, looking between her two friends, who were struggling to keep their cool.

"No, Frisk, he didn't do anything besides trick you into getting your hopes up over a fake telescope." The teen lied, looking away from the clueless human.

The girl squinted at him. "I feel like you two are hiding something from me." She said with a bit of a threatening tone as she turned back and forth to face them. What she said caused them to lose it and start chuckling uncontrollably, and she didn't get why. "What!? What did I do!?" She asked, confused, and the older monster and human started openly laughing. The girl suddenly seemed to be connecting the dots. She looked at the odd telescope as her friends laughed, then she turned around and faced them as she realized it. She slowly brought a hand up to her eye and wiped near it, only to see some dark ink on her fingers. "SANS YOU BONEHEAD!" She shouted. Seeing both of her friends busting up laughing, she couldn't stay mad, and soon she was laughing as well.

After their laughing fit, they walked past the skeleton while continuing to admire the "stars" above them. They noticed a doorway to their left, but before they could enter they came across another monster. It looked like an… orb, with feet, and two black holes for eyes. "What's a star?" It asked them. "Can you touch it? Can you eat it? Can you kill it?" It looked down in thought for a second before looking up at the tallest human. "Are you a star?"

"Um… no." He answered, backing away from the small monster. They went into the next room to get away from the monster, and came across a familiar face.

Frisk gasped. "The Nice Cream Guy!" She shouted happily.

The bunny monster's sad expression was replaced with a big, cheery smile when he saw them. "Oh! Hello, little one! It's nice to see you two again!"

"So what are you doing in here?" AJ asked.

"Well… I wasn't really getting any customers besides you guys, so I relocated. But… there are still no customers here." He said sadly before cheering up again. "I don't suppose either of you would like a Nice Cream?"

"I'll take one!" The girl answered.

"Wonderful! That'll be 25 gold." The Nice Cream Guy said, and the girl handed him the appropriate number of gold coins. He noticed the raised eyebrows of the taller human. "I know what you're thinking, but I thought of a way to even out the price. Punch Cards!" He announced dramatically. "Every time you buy a Nice Cream, you can get a punch card from the box behind you. If you get three cards, you can get a free Nice Cream!" He explained.

The teen nodded. "That's a pretty cool idea." He complimented. The monster seemed to just love the compliment. The human had noticed how strangely cheery he was.

They walked out of the room with the child licking her Nice Cream. "Hey, this is good! I wish I had gotten one earlier!" She commented.

They walked past the small monster and started to walk down the path, only to notice something bright to their right. They turned right and froze at the sight before them. The cave ahead of them was large and long, filled with winding mud paths. Between the paths though, were multiple rivers of water split apart by the paths. The water however was _pure white_ and glowing incredibly brightly. Also, on the water were glowing blue lily pads, while on the land there were bioluminescent mushrooms and echo flowers scattered everywhere. The entire massive area glowed from all the light, and it was an absolutely beautiful sight. Both the humans speechlessly sat down right at the edge of the water and looked around them, not finding any words to describe what they were seeing.

Sans chuckled next to them. "Heh. Welcome to Waterfall." He said before teleporting off to who-knows-where.

* * *

 **Anyone else using that Undertale Amino app? I'm not terribly social so I don't have much use for the chat rooms or anything, but I get to see more fanart through it, so that's nice. Yep, that's my review of the app. Solid 10/10 would use it as another excuse to procrastinate my main writing again.**

 **Anyway I hope you enjoyed and I hope you have a great week!**

(it just keeps saying wrong format this is my life now)


	13. The Beauty of The Underground

**I will never not appreciate all the kind reviews you guys give me. I'm likely not gonna respond just to say thank you, but I do read those reviews, so just know that I am super thankful for all positive encouragement! :3 Seriously, you guys are awesome!**

 **Side note: I was having a hard time deciding if his machete's sheathe was on his back or on his hip, and I finally decided!**

 **It's on his hip.**

 **But now I can't decide which hip! The left side would make more sense since he's right handed, but I also like the idea of him pulling it out from his right hip and holding it backhanded sometimes.**

 **FIRST WORLD PROBLEEEEEEMMMMS!**

 **Oh well. Let's continue!**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.13

* * *

(Quiet Water – Undertale OST)

Frisk was not content with sitting and admiring the view. She was quick to get up and run forward, jumping across the luminescent lily pads with a big smile on her face. Her fellow human called after her, angry that she had nearly fallen in liquids that may have been very dangerous, but she ignored him and continued skipping around and admiring everything. AJ stuck to the path and kept an eye on the girl in case she got too far away. He didn't notice it, but she was intentionally staying near him and only moving forward as fast as he did.

As they walked along the dirt paths, or in Frisk's case, around the paths and across the water, she investigated the many glowing things around them. The mushrooms changed colors when she touched them, but they didn't seem to do much else. The glowing trees did nothing but shine brightly. The very grasses glowed bright blue and white. As they walked along rivers of brightly glowing white water, voices echoed around them, voices from the echo flowers that Frisk passed.

"So? Don't you have any wishes to make?"

"Hmm… just one, but… It's kind of stupid."

As the sound of roaring waterfalls continued near to them, they were just able to hear another echo flower. "Don't say that! Come on, I promise I won't laugh."

Looking up did not spare their eyes from light, for the star-like crystals in the ceiling were still glowing above them. One of those random crystals fell and hit the child on the head, revealing itself to actually be just a plastic star, unlike the other crystals. "Ow! What was that!?"

They looked up at the star shaped hole in the ceiling and saw a strange creature looking at them through the hole.

"HOI." It whispered loudly.

The humans blinked twice before walking away.

Eventually it was clear they had found the way out of this bioluminescent paradise. "Can we stay? I don't wanna go yet!" The younger one begged.

"You ran through the entire place already." AJ pointed out.

"So!?"

He sighed. "Look, I don't wanna leave either, this place is beautiful, but we gotta move on eventually." He argued.

"Can be at least walk through it one more time?" She asked. "I'll even stay right next to you so you don't have to keep an eye on me and you can actually look at everything."

"Alright, that's fine. As long as you do stay with me."

"I will!" She took his hand and they walked back the way they came. They went silent again as they simply took in the place's beauty, though they spent most of their time staring at the glowing waters. After walking through most of the place quietly again, it was time to head back and leave the massive room, even though they didn't want to.

On their way back to the exit, the girl's phone rang, and a voice that very much ruined the vibe of this area came out of it. "HELLO AGAIN, THIS IS PAPYRUS! REMEMBER WHEN I ASKED YOU ABOUT CLOTHES? WELL, THE FRIEND WHO WANTED TO KNOW… HER OPINION OF YOU TWO IS VERY… MURDERY."

"I didn't realize opinions could be that way." The teen commented.

"YOU'D BE SURPRISED!" Papyrus responded. "ANYWAY, I KNEW THAT WHILE YOU TWO WOULD OBVIOUSLY TELL ME THE TRUTH, I WOULD HAVE TO LIE TO PROTECT YOU BOTH. I TOLD MY FRIEND THAT YOU BOTH ACTUALLY _WERE_ WEARING YOUR CLOAKS! IT WAS VERY HARD TO DO, THOUGH… I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO LIE… I JUST WANT ALL MY FRIENDS TO BE OKAY…" He said sadly before hanging up.

The older human let out an annoyed sigh. "That explains why she attacked us on sight, I guess."

"Poor Papy…" Frisk commented sadly.

They finally reached the exit and finally decided to read the ancient writing on the walls. "The power to take their SOULs. This is the power that the humans feared."

"Ugh. Why couldn't they just have this all on one wall?" The boy whined. Something caught his eye, a little flash in the bottom corner of his vision. There was something at his feet. He bent down and picked it up. "What's this? String? Why is it glowing faintly?" He asked aloud as he held the small white string in his hand.

"Maybe it's magic string?" The girl wondered.

"Hmm." He pulled on the string, and it suddenly grew longer. "Whoa! It is magic!" He realized. Then he had a thought, and decided to wrap the string around the bottom of his machete's grip and tie it. Then he tied it around his right wrist. "Cool! Now I won't lose my one way to defend myself!" He got curious about the length of the string/wire and sheathed his blade before holding his arm up to his side. The string got longer as he raised his arm, so his weapon didn't get pulled out of its sheathe. "That's so cool! I got full range of movement and I don't even have to worry about the blade falling out! CONVENIENCE IS AWESOME!"

But then he had a very cool but very dangerous idea. "Hey, Frisk? Can you get about ten feet away from me, please?"

"…Why?" The child asked cautiously.

"Wanna try something." He answered before pulling his machete out and pulling his arm back as if to throw it. "HYA!" He then threw it straight over the water and at a wall. The string rapidly grew in length, allowing the blade to fly further and further. He didn't let it get to far thought before grabbing the wire with his right hand and yanking it upward. The wire seemed to go with what he wanted it to do and his machete suddenly flew upward and stuck into the ceiling. He laughed triumphantly before yanking downward, forcing the blade to fall quickly towards the ground. He yanked towards him, and the string suddenly began to shrink, pulling his blade towards him until the blade was back in his hand. "That is like literally the best thing ever!" He exclaimed, and Frisk thought she might have seen stars in his eyes when he said that. "Okay, sorry about that interruption." He said, quickly calming down as he sheathed his weapon and turned back to her.

"Hey, I'm in no rush to leave." The girl pointed out.

(The music stops)

* * *

They walked into the next room, which was nearly empty besides the one path that took a right turn, and a whole lot of water. There wasn't anything really glowing in here, a massive contrast to the last room. They walked into it slowly. Suddenly, a large tentacle came out of the water near them, causing the humans to jump. "Should we start running?" Frisk asked curiously. They walked a few more steps, and the tentacle moved along the water with them.

"I think we should start running." AJ answered.

They started to run, only to skid to a stop when the water erupted in front of them, and a massive, terrifying creature appeared out of the water, along with many more tentacles. "Hi! I'm Onionsan! Onionsan, you hear?"

"Yep, we're running." The teen said before they both continued running as fast as they could.

"Hey! Where are you… going?" The creature asked as they left the room and disappeared from its sight.

"That thing was seriously more terrifying than Undyne…" The older human exclaimed when they got out of the room and into the next one. Water poured in around them from holes in the ceiling, creating the only background noise in the area.

"It sounded like it was going to be really nice." The child commented, and her friend gave her a look. "But yeah, it was really scary." She admitted. They heard shuffling and noticed a strange monster in one of the corners of the room. It looked like some sort of sea creature. "Oh! Hello there!" The girl greeted.

The shy monster let out a little hum, and a musical note flew at them slowly.

"Um… that wasn't much of an attack." The older human commented. He then noticed his fellow human flailing their arms around weirdly. "What are you doing!?" He asked, giving her a strange look.

"I'm conducting! Maybe they need someone to conduct for them!" The girl explained while continuing to flail her arms above her head.

"The only thing you're gonna conduct is electricity if you keep that up!" He commented.

The monster made a little beat with its fins before letting out two more hums, and two more easily dodged notes. Frisk hummed in thought, then her eyes widened when she got an idea from that hum. She started humming a funky tune, and the shy monster seemed to get much more comfortable when it started humming along. This meant that a whole lot more notes came flying at them, but they were honestly easy to dodge despite their numbers. Despite the risks, the smaller human continued to hum for a bit longer, and was eventually satisfied with how happy the monster looked. They walked away before her humming made things more difficult.

That was when they noticed that there were two ways to continue out of the room, and there was writing next to one exit. "This room hides a great treasure."

"Treasure?" Frisk repeated excitedly.

"Oh, you wanna go treasure hunting?" AJ asked with a smirk. The girl answered by taking his hand and dragging him into the room. "Whoa! Okay!"

The room was quite small, but in it was more writing on the right wall and a piano against the left wall. "A haunting song echoes down the corridor, won't you play along? Only the first 8 notes are necessary."

"Wait, no treasure hunting? We just play a piano to get the treasure? Or am I taking this the wrong way?" The teen asked.

"Most of the piano keys are missing, too." The girl said with a pout. She was hoping for a real challenge for some great treasure, but all she needed to work with was five keys and eight notes. "Wait, I don't hear any music." She noted.

"Maybe we have to leave and turn it on first?" The older one wondered.

"Maybe!" She agreed before taking his hand and running back out of the room. They stopped after going through the other exit and noticing lots of writing on the walls.

"Finally! They just laid it out for us!" The boy exclaimed thankfully before they walked up to the walls of the long hall.

"This power has no counter. Indeed, a human cannot absorb a monster's SOUL. When a monster dies, its SOUL disappears. And an incredible power would be needed to take the SOUL of a living monster. There is only one exception. The SOUL of a special species of monster called a "Boss Monster." A Boss Monster's SOUL is strong enough to persist after death, if only for a few moments. A human could absorb this SOUL, but this has never happened, and now it never will."

"Why would it never happen?" Frisk asked.

"I guess they thought humans would never fall down here." The boy figured.

They walked further down the hall and passed a horned statue with a few rocks under it. There was a hole in the cave that was allowing light and rain drops to pour onto the statue. The cloaked humans continued further down the hall and noticed a lot more water pouring down from holes in the ceiling ahead of them. There was a trash can nearby filled with umbrellas, and the older human took one. "I'm tallest, so I might as well."

"Wait!" The girl spoke up. "What if we put that on the statue?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "It's a statue, why would it care?" He asked. "I mean we'll try, since we got a bunch more umbrellas here, but still, I don't see how this would do anything." They walked back down the hall and came back to the statue. They placed the umbrella in between the arms of the statue. For some reason, a music box began to play a pleasant tune.

(Memory – Undertale OST)

"That worked!? Why did that work?" The teen asked aloud.

The music totally countered the way they were feeling. One monster had scared them, they had fought with another, and then they got excited over treasure. And yet now, this beautiful, peaceful music was playing along with the calm sound of the rain, and they felt their whole bodies relax automatically. They sat before the statue like they were the small rocks under it as well, and silently listened to it for awhile.

…

…

…

They knew that this was what they were supposed to play on that piano, and when they were ready, they quietly walked back to the piano room with the calm music following them all the way there. Eventually, Frisk sat down before the piano, and waited a couple seconds for the song to start up again. Once it did, she played the first eight notes of the song in tune with the music box. As the music continued to play, the back wall opened up to reveal a secret entrance.

(The music stops)

When they walked into the small secret room though, they could no longer hear the beautiful music playing. But that was okay, because before them now was a strange orb on a pedestal. It looked like a powerful artifact, and both the humans were quick to walk up to it.

The girl reached up to take it, but then she felt something move around in her pockets. "What the-"

The boy had no such problem though, and reached out to take the orb. Upon touching it, he felt pain in his finger as he heard a small familiar noise. "Ow! It shocked me!" He exclaimed. "Is it just made of metal or something!?"

A familiar white dog sprouted up from Frisk's pocket and ran up to the artifact. "What the- HEY!" It absorbed it into its body and took the artifact away to some unknown place. "Come back here!" She cried out hopelessly, it was already gone.

"Where did that dog come from!?" AJ asked.

"I-It just came out of my pocket…" The girl answered, as shocked and confused as he was. "I have no idea how it got there."

"Well… it was clearly magic… I guess that just explains it!" He exclaimed. "Magic explains everything now! Something weird happens, blame magic!" He ranted. "WHY DOES MAGIC GET TO DEFY THE LAWS OF PHYSICS!? THAT'S NOT FAIR!" He shouted.

The girl chuckled. "Well, at least it gave us something, it made us stronger." She pointed out. "And it even gave you that string!"

He pouted. "Yeah it is pretty cool, but that still doesn't make up for all the random crap that it causes. If we ever learn to use magic ourselves, then I'll call it even, but until then…" He trailed off and started to walk out the room.

Frisk took his hand and followed him out of the treasure room that had totally ripped them off. "But I thought you said that was 'literally the greatest thing ever'?" She pointed out.

"Yes, but now that I think about it, learning to use our own magic would be even better." He countered.

* * *

They soon were back at the trash can filled with umbrellas. The taller human took another and they started to walk further down the hall. Through countless holes in the ceiling above them, rain was able to pour in. Their boots splashed through the puddles on the floor, ruining their reflections as they slowly walked on, enjoying the rain and the sound it created. After walking for a short time, they noticed a large hole in the wall to their left, and they saw the monster kid taking cover from the rain inside there.

"Yo, you got an umbrella? Awesome!" The kid said before joining the humans under their shelter from the rain. "Let's go!" The three then continued walking in silence under their umbrella. That silence didn't last too long though. "Yo, Undyne is so cool! She beats up bad guys and _never_ loses. If I was a human, I would wet the bed every night knowing she was gonna come beat me up! Ha ha." The kid seemed very interested in talking to a kid like himself, and was only really talking to Frisk. They took a right down the long path, and they soon noticed a lone echo flower across the way. They stopped to look at it for a moment. "So, one time, we had a school project where we had to take care of a flower. The king, we had to call him Mister Dreemurr, volunteered to donate his own flowers. He ended up coming to school and teaching the class about responsibility and stuff. That got me thinking… Yo! How cool would it be if Undyne came to school!? She could beat up all the teachers!"

"I regret letting him come along…" The older human whispered.

The younger one lightly hit his leg. "Don't be mean." She whispered back. She heard him sigh in annoyance in response.

"Well… maybe she wouldn't beat up the teachers… She's too cool to ever hurt an innocent person!" Kid added.

They made a left turn and realized the rain wasn't getting to them anymore. As they walked further, they came out of the cave within a cave that they had been in for so long. They could see the vastness of the Underground once again, and to their left, they saw a massive city in the distance, with an equally massive castle in the center of it. Above them they could see countless more crystals taking the place of stars, but these were so much further above them that they really could only be seen as stars. The trio stopped to admire the beauty around them for a time. Eventually, though, they had to continue down the path, which meant going back into a cave within the cave.

The first area of this cave had rain as well, but there was a bin full of umbrellas, and the teen felt obligated to put the umbrella back. The obstacle before them now was an incredibly steep ledge. Thankfully, the humans were able to jump to the top of it pretty easily. They turned around and saw the monster kid looking up at them awkwardly. "I can help you up if you want." AJ spoke up.

"Nah, it's okay." The kid answered, and he saw the boy's worried expression. "Don't worry about me, I always find a way to get through!" He turned to run the other way and fell flat on his face. "I'm okay!"

They waited for the kid to leave before turning to each other. "Okay so do you think that was their capital or what?" The older human asked quickly.

"It had a castle! It has to be the capital!" Frisk answered enthusiastically. "That was such a beautiful sight though!"

"It sure was. What is up with this part of the Underground? It keeps giving us all these beautiful views!" AJ commented.

"It's so nice here! But uh, we should probably get out of the rain…" The girl pointed out.

"Oh, yeah, right." They walked further into the cave and got out of the rain. "How nice would it be to live here, though? Getting to have views like that all the time."

"Oh I _wish_ we could live here!" The shorter human exclaimed. She turned her head to the way they came when she realized she could still faintly hear that music box playing. She pumped her fist as she said "Determination!" confidently.

Meanwhile, her fellow human had noticed there was more writing on the wall. "The humans, afraid of our power, declared war on us. They attacked suddenly, and without mercy. In the end, it could hardly be called a war. United, the humans were too powerful, and us monsters, too weak. Not a single SOUL was taken, and countless monsters were turned to dust."

"You know, this is a really biased history lesson." The teen commented. "I mean yeah, what reason have they to lie, but at the same time, it's not like any humans were supposed to ever read this, so who would know if they were lying?" He turned and looked at the path ahead. He suddenly stopped moving and made absolutely no sound for a solid five seconds. " _WHO DESIGNED THIS!?"_ He suddenly asked, gesturing towards the winding wooden path hanging high above the darkness below them. It seemed to go all over the place and branch out into multiple dead ends. It was so long they couldn't even see the end of it. "I mean there's hardly any reason to it! It's completely nonsensical in its design! What's the point!?"

Frisk couldn't help but laugh at how angry he was getting over this. She did agree though, the path didn't make much sense. "Whoever made this was probably bored!" She guessed while she laughed.

"You know what!? You're honestly probably right!" He responded. He smiled as he watched her laugh. "Frisk, will you stop laughing so we can move on!?" He asked with a chuckle.

"O-Okay, I'm sorry! Haha!"

They finally got to starting to cross the really high, winding bridge. The older human could just barely be heard mumbling things like "stupid" and "ludicrous" as they walked along the winding path, breaking through the silence of the incredibly dark cave. *CRACK* Suddenly, multiple spears shot out all around them, coming through the wood from below them. Undyne stood on a separate path below them, and she began barraging them with magic spears. "Why are you doing this!? We haven't done _anything_ to you!" The teen shouted, but the monster did not stop her attacks. The humans were forced to run along the winding path to try and get away from her.

"This ridiculous design is gonna be the death of us!"

Unfortunately for the humans, there was no way out, only dead ends.

"It should be very simple! Make a path from point A, to point B!"

Wood chips shot up around them with each spear that struck the platform.

"But no, whoever made this decided to go all over the GODDAMN ALPHABET!"

Eventually they found themselves cornered, and the monster in armor had jumped up to their level to approach them. The older human pulled out his weapon and walked up, standing his ground. "I don't care what people say about you! I-" He was cut off when, with a sudden wave of the monster's arm, a group of spears cut a line straight through the wood between Undyne and the humans, leaving nothing holding the platform up on their side. "Oh…" He blinked twice at the monster before spinning around and jumping towards Frisk.

""AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"" Both humans fell into the dark depths below.

"It sounds like it came from over here… Oh! You've fallen down, haven't you… Are you okay? Here, get up... Chara, huh? That's a nice name. My name is…"

Both humans slowly woke up with confused expressions, unsure of where they were for a moment. They then were hit with déjà vu as AJ released Frisk from his tight grip and let her roll away. They had landed on a bed of flowers that was surrounded by water. The pieces of the bridge they were on floated on the surface of the water.

"W-Where are we now?" The younger human asked.

* * *

 **I didn't like the first part of the Papyrus fight chapter, but liked the rest of it. I liked most of this chapter, but I don't really like the end of it. Oh well, not every chapter can be good, just gotta remind myself it isn't the end of the world.**

 **Well, I hope you somehow enjoyed the chapter.**

 **Have a great week everyone!**


	14. Dummies!

**I love the Mad Dummy's theme!**

 **Anyway, let's continue!**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.14

* * *

"Where are we?"

"Looks like the dump or something." The older human answered. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. We fell on these flowers again." The kid noticed as they got up and looked at the flowers.

"Oh yeah. Wait, I called these sunflowers back then, didn't I?" He asked himself. "These aren't sunflowers, you idiot, these are… um… butter… somethings? I think? I don't remember."

"Well, they saved our lives again, so thank you, butter somethings!" She said cheerfully.

"You're making fun of my memory failure, aren't you?" He deadpanned.

"Maaayyybe." Frisk said before turning around to walk down the only path they had. That path was filled with water that was easily half as deep as the girl was tall. "Um…"

"Come on, I'll carry you so you don't have to get wet." AJ decided.

"Oh! Thank you!" The girl climbed up on his back, but when he got up to start moving, she decided to climb all the way up to his shoulders. "Yes! I'm tall again!" She announced dramatically, getting a chuckle from her fellow human.

He began walking through the flooded path through the dump. They passed by a few piles of garbage, and something in the piles caught their eye. "What the heck? I recognize some of this stuff. How did it get down here?" They walked further on till they came across a waterfall pouring down near them all the way from the ceiling of the cavern.

"Look." The girl said, pointing up the falls. They noticed a piece of garbage that was clearly man-made falling down the waterfall. "That's how." She realized. They watched the piece of garbage go past them and fall down another waterfall into the dark depths below them. "Determination!" Frisk whispered loudly.

"What is wrong with you!?" AJ whispered loudly with a smirk.

"I don't know!" She whispered back with her own smile.

They continued and soon made a left turn. They noticed their path coming to an end up ahead, but before that, there was quite a bit more garbage to go through. There was a broken bike nearly. Its horn let out a weak, sad noise. They then came across a freezer which had something that looked remotely edible in it. They took it. They noticed an empty computer, and a DVD case for an anime which was covered in claw marks.

"Someone really wanted their anime." The girl commented.

"Dang it! I was about to say that!" He complained, and they both laughed.

They then noticed a training dummy that looked nearly identical to the one that was in The Ruins. It was the last thing they'd see before getting out of the dump. "You know, I kind of want to practice with this thing before we move on any further." The teen said.

"Why?" Frisk asked.

"In fact, what we should really do is finally teach you how to fight properly." He added.

"I don't want to, though." The girl whined.

"Too bad. Rather you want to fight or not, you need to learn how to properly protect yourself, and a dummy would really help with that." The boy countered before turning to walk towards the exit. "Here. I'll set you down where there isn't water, then I'll bring the dummy back." She let out a whine. "I'm not asking you to kill anything, I'm just saying that-" Suddenly, there was a loud splash behind them. They turned and saw the dummy wasn't there anymore. "Can this place please stop interrupting me?" AJ requested with a rather threatening tone.

Suddenly, there was another loud noise as the water between them and the exit erupted, revealing the dummy, floating high in the air.

"Fools! Cowards! You couldn't have hurt me even if you tried, for I am a ghost that lives inside a dummy!" The floating dummy spoke.

'When did it grow eyes?'

"My cousin used to live inside a dummy too, until… you two came along! When you two came up to them, they thought they were in for a nice chat! _But the things you said…_ Horrible. Shocking! UNBELIEVEABLE! It spooked them right out of their dummy!" He glared right at the taller human. "HUMAN! I'll scare your soul right out of your body!"

"Just me, huh? Alright." The teen grabbed Frisk and threw her onto a nearby trash pile.

"Hey! What are you doing!?" She asked.

(Dummy! – Undertale OST)

"Protecting you." He answered simply before elaborating. "He's going after me, so as long as you're careful not to get accidentally hit, you should be fine." He turned his attention to the dummy and pulled out his machete. "Hey, Dummy!" He shouted before jumping at the monster. "WHAT WAS THAT YOU SAID ABOUT NOT BEING ABLE TO HURT YOU!? HYA!" He struck hard with his blade, and the dummy shattered into pieces that fell into the water. He landed with a splash and smirked. "You might be a ghost, but even if you are, I can still hit your vessel."

The pieces of the dummy suddenly flew up and stuck back together, more or less. "Feeble. Feeble! FEEBLE! You can't hurt me, and you _can't_ break my vessel, you DUMMY!" It insulted before looking confused. "Wait, is dummy a compliment?" Suddenly, a bunch of mini dummies appeared out of the walls. "Whatever! Dummies, attack!" The mini dummies each built up light blue energy into a ball and shot it at the human.

The teen was quick to jump back to avoid a few attacks from the dummies above. He then noticed the dummies on his right fire at him, and he ran forwards to avoid them. The ones on his left shot at him as he moved and he had to jump into the air to avoid them. He spun in the air just in time to realize the ones behind him were building up magical energy as well. Thankfully, the dummies fired at him just as gravity took effect and he fell back to the ground.

"GAH!" He heard the angry dummy cry out and turned around to see the dummy was recoiling back as if he had been hit by a strong force. "You DUMMIES! Watch where you're aiming your magic attacks!" He then turned to the human he was fighting and gave him a nervous look. "Hey, you! F-Forget I said anything about magic!"

"Ah, you're one of those blatantly obvious enemies then." AJ noted before smirking. "Alright!" He ran straight at the dummy, encouraging the mini dummies to attack him. Three small dummies appeared in front of the Mad Dummy and shot magic attacks one after the other. The human ducked and weaved under each magic ball before reaching the dummies and swiping them away with the flat end of his machete. He then struck the large dummy and broke him into pieces again. He stood over where the pieces had fallen into the water and raised his weapon as if he was going to stab the pieces of the dummy. The chibi dummies were quick to fire at him, and he smiled as he jumped away and let the pieces of the dummy take the hits.

The dummy pieces erupted out of the water with an angry roar before piecing themselves back together. "I will defeat you and take your soul, human!" It shouted as the dummies built up energy for magic attacks again.

The human smiled at another idea before running at the dummy again. He deflected a wave of attacks from one side before he had reached the Mad Dummy again. He jumped up to him and raised his weapon, but instead of slashing, he landed on the dummy with his feet pressed against it. "See ya!" He said before turning the dummy and kicking him into one of the other rows of dummies just as they fired. The boy dodged and deflected the last two waves while the angry dummy recovered and floated back to center stage.

He flailed around angrily. "I'll use your soul to cross the barrier!"

"The what?" AJ asked before being attacked by another quad-wave of magic. He dove and used a pile of trash for cover from two waves before he had to jump out of cover for the third and deflect the fourth. "Hey! What's the barrier!?" He asked the monster floating above him.

"I'll stand in the window of a fancy store! THEN EVERYTHING I WANT WILL BE MINE!"

"Nope, he just keeps going on. Okay." The human deadpanned. He deflected the first wave before running at the dummy to dodge the second. "You know what? Just for that…" He jumped at the dummy to grab him, but the dummy moved out of the way and he flew past him, landing in the water instead.

"Good to see the cat still lands on its feet!" Frisk commented, and the boy pointed his blade at her with just the slightest hint of a blush on his cheeks.

"Shut up." He requested before turning back to his opponent. He was looking at his own dummies angrily. It seemed that the little dummies had somehow managed to hit him again anyway. Those many dummies turned and shot at the human again, and he dodged three of the waves before getting an idea on the last wave. He deflected a few of the magic attacks in the direction of the dummy, but the dummy was floating around the room now and making himself a much harder target. "Almost!" He exclaimed.

"Hey, dummies! Quit making it so easy for him to deflect the attacks at me!" The Mad Dummy demanded.

"You know, you're being kind of a jerk." The teen commented before deflecting a random single shot and managing to hit the dummy with it, causing cotton to begin leaking out of it.

The dummy growled at him angrily before growing confused. "I, I guess that'll avenge my cousin… What was their name again?"

Some of the dummies suddenly tilted so their heads were facing towards the human before suddenly shooting themselves at him like torpedoes. "WHOA!" He exclaimed as he nearly got hit by two waves of actual dummies. That distracted him enough for a wave of magic attacks to hit him and knock him into the water.

Frisk cried out fearfully. "Are you okay!?" He got out of the water, but she saw the look on his face. "Oh no…"

He suddenly let go of his machete and started twirling it in the air around him like a lasso. Holding tight to the string, he strongly swung at the angry dummy from range and broke it into pieces. He continued his strong swings and started attacking all the mini dummies with his blade on a string.

"Hey! Be careful!" The girl complained.

"Don't worry, I'm making sure it won't hit you." He said calmly as he continued to attack the mini dummies, breaking their lines and causing them to scatter.

"That not what I meant!" Frisk shouted.

The large dummy's pieces finally came back together and he looked all around him. "REALLY!? You're all RUNNING AWAY!?" He asked angrily. "Fine! You all were doing terrible ANYWAY! I'm replacing ALL OF YOU!" It suddenly turned back to the human and started laughing maniacally. "Now you'll see my true power, relying on people that aren't garbage!"

"Yeah, no, I really don't like you." AJ decided as more dummies appeared out of the walls. He swung his blade at them from a distance, but it bounced off their metal bodies, so he pulled back his blade while he could.

"Dummy bots! Magic missile!"

Mechanical whirs began to fill the room, and suddenly, the dummies launched literal missiles at the human. His eyes widened in shock before he started running, but the missiles turned and followed him. "Oh you've got to be kidding me!" He turned and ran at the large floating dummy and jumped at him, swinging his blade in the direction the dummy was going. The dummy dodged the hit, but ended up going right into him, and the boy was able to land on him, spin him around, and kick him at the missiles. A bunch of magic explosions turned the dummy to pieces again, but the pieces came back.

"DUMMY BOTS! TRY AGAIN!"

Suddenly, the dummy bots surrounded them and started firing missiles from every direction. There was only one opening, that opening just happened to be running along the left wall. Missiles crashed into the wall as he ran along it while screaming fearfully and jumping to the back wall, then jumping to the right wall, then jumping down and watching as the missiles failed to track him any longer and hit the Mad Dummy. "HOW DID I JUST DO THAT!?" AJ couldn't help but exclaim out loud in absolute disbelief.

"That was awesome! Good job!" Frisk cheered.

"Dummy bots! You're awful?"

The dummy bots began scattering throughout the room with no clear pattern, firing random missiles at him. He kept moving through the room and around the piles of trash as fast as he could with his head basically on a swivel to keep track of all the new attacks. He looked totally focused and calm, but internally he was panicking like crazy. Keeping his cool externally though was all he needed to make it through the wave of random attacks alive. 'Why are these missiles not changing the landscape? Oh right. Magic.'

"DUMMY BOTS! FINAL ATTACK!"

"THIS BETTER BE YOUR FINAL ATTACK, YOU-" The human had no more time to speak as a dummy bot fired a missile at him. He ran to start getting it to follow him, but a bunch more dummy bots appeared to launch themselves at him like missiles, and he barely jumped over the wave of metal. He then realized he was stuck in the air with a missile coming at him, and he had no choice but try to flip and kick the missile. He succeeded in knocking the missile up into the ceiling instead of setting it off by touching it.

When he landed, he saw another missile preparing to fire at him, as well as more preparing to throw themselves at him. He ducked under three of them before jumping to the side at the last second to avoid the missile. He then jumped up to avoid more dummies before landing and jumping backwards to avoid another dummy tackle. The missile had turned around by then and went to hit him, but he rolled at the last second and let it fly past him and into the wall.

Suddenly, all the dummies surrounded him and fired missiles at once. He saw no other choice but to let out a battle cry and run straight at one of the waves of missiles. He jumped over the wave and turned around when he landed to see all the missiles descending on him. He jumped to his right and ran back into the center of the room to run at the angry dummy. The horde of missiles turned to chase him while the dummy stared at them all fearfully. AJ smirked as he started swinging his blade from its wire as he got closer to the dummy. Just before he reached the monster, he pulled on the wire and wrapped it around the dummy. "HAVE FUN!" He shouted as he pulled hard on the string, spinning the dummy like a flying top and sending him into the mass of missiles.

* _BOOM!_ *

Eventually the magic smoke cleared, and the dummy was leaking cotton everywhere. "N-No way…"

"That's right! Not even your best attack can beat me!" The boy declared, hoping the fight would stop now.

"Those dummies are even _worse_ than the other guys!" The Mad Dummy exclaimed angrily.

"Wait, seriously?..." AJ deadpanned.

"Who cares? Who cares!? WHO CARES!?" The monster exclaimed. "I DON'T NEED FRIENDS!" A knife magically appeared next to him. " _I'VE GOT KNIVES!_ " It exclaimed before throwing the knife at its opponent. The human deflected the knife and it fell into the water with a small splash.

*Awkward silence. Even the music stops.*

"I'm… I'm out of knives." The dummy realized. "BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER! YOU CAN'T BEAT ME, AND I CAN'T BEAT YOU!"

"NOPE! I BEAT YOU! I'M DONE! I'M NOT DEALING WITH THIS ANYMORE!" The boy exclaimed and went over and took Frisk's hand. "Let's just leave this jerk already. We really have no reason to fight him."

"Hey! You can't just run away!" The dummy exclaimed before a large drop fell on his head. "Ow!" More drops began to fall on him, and they all seemed to be hurting him. "Ow! OW! What is this!? Acid rain!? Oh, forget it! I'm leaving, too!" It decided before sliding away through one of the walls.

Before the humans could comment on that, a familiar form flew down, a crying ghost. Both humans gasped in realization with big smiles on their faces. "Sorry… I interrupted you both, didn't I?"

"No! Not at all, Napstablook!" AJ said quickly. "It's really good to see you!"

"It is?" Blooky asked, looking surprised and confused.

"Yeah! What are you doing here!?" Frisk asked.

"Oh. My house is over there." It turned and looked at the exit to the dump for a moment. "It's not that great though, you wouldn't want to go over there."

"Nonsense!" Frisk exclaimed.

"Yeah, nonsense!" The boy agreed. "We're your friends, let us come over!"

"O-Okay… if you really want to…" The ghost said before floating out of the dump with the humans following behind him.

They came into a large room with a little lake in the center. There was a peaceful tranquility to this room…

Frisk decided to break that tranquility.

"DETERMINATION!"

* * *

 **I am so disappointed in myself! I literally finished this chapter at midnight today! I'm normally half way through the next chapter by now! Also, this chapter was supposed to end after hanging out with Blooky! I'VE BEEN SO SLOW AND LAZY THIS WEEK AND IT SUCKS! I'll try and make sure that doesn't continue into the next week.**

 **Anyway, hope you somehow enjoyed this chapter, and more importantly, that you had a great week and you have a good day.**

 **(YOU KNOW WHAT!? I don't like making promises, because I know I can't guarantee anything, so I'll just say this. I will try my hardest to not be so lazy when writing this next chapter and from now on. Why? Because I just realized that the day I posted the chapter before this, this fic got 422 views! That's over a hundred more than what it usually gets on the day I post a chapter! Not only that, but the views have gone up by almost a thousand _each week_ for the past few weeks. Views may not mean much to others, but they still mean a lot to me. I can't say thank you enough, so i'll just try and get more content out to you all as my thank you! You all fill me with determination!) **


	15. Ghosts, Gerson, and Glowing Grass

**ONWARD!**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.15

* * *

"DETERMINATION!"

Despite that ruining the tranquility of the place, the boy still chuckled a bit. It was then, though, that his adrenaline started to wear off and he now really felt the pain of getting hit by a wave of magic attacks all at once. His everything hurt and he groaned and hunched over in pain, but Frisk was quick to turn around and give him a cinnamon bun to heal him. "Thank you…" He ate the yummy treat and sighed in relief as the pain went away.

"Are you okay now?" The girl asked, still a bit concerned.

"Yeah, magic fixes everything after all." He said with a smile before they walked around the lake and went down the middle path of the three paths ahead of them. There they found two oddly shaped houses, and they saw Napstablook enter the left one, so they followed him in.

The house was simply one room. Against the left portion of the back wall was a refrigerator, a tv to the right of it, and against the right part of the back wall was a computer setup. Directly to the right of the door were three playable discs.

"Oh, you both really came here." The ghost noted. He appeared to be wearing a headset. "Sorry, like I said, it isn't that great, but make yourselves at home."

The humans looked around. The place wasn't in good shape. There were cracks in all the walls, and quite a few cobwebs. Though, one of those webs seemed to be advertising something.

"It's not that bad in here." The older human lied.

"Yeah." The younger one agreed as she walked up to one of the disks labeled 'Spooktunes' and played it. The music that played out of it was… weird… and only remotely spooky. Both humans gave awkward glances at each other while Napstablook bobbed lightly to the strange music. The girl decided to play the next CD, labeled 'Spookwave'. It was a sort of techno/electronic version of the other song, but that surprisingly made it more bearable, and more spooky. As much as the humans liked it, they tried the last CD, labeled 'Birthday Music'. It sounded like ghosts humming a weird tune. They went back to Spookwave.

"Dang… that ambience… it feels like my whole body is being spooked." The ghost commented before they started humming the tune of the song. The humans decided to look around a bit more. AJ looked at the TV and found it wasn't even on. "Oh… that's my tv. There's a show I like to watch on it… sometimes…" The ghost said, seeming a bit depressed about something. Frisk, meanwhile, noticed the browser of the computer was opened up to a music-sharing forum. Then her stomach growled. "Oh, are you hungry? Here, I'll get you some food." He floated over to the fridge and pulled out a see-through sandwich. "This is a ghost sandwich. Do you wanna try it?"

"Sure!" She answered and tried to take a bite out of it. She fazed right through it.

"Oh… nevermind." The ghost said. There was an awkward silence as the three stood there.

"Hey, what do you do on the computer there?" Frisk asked to break the silence.

"Oh, that? I just listen to music, usually. Sometimes I try to make my own music, but only sometimes." Blooky answered.

""Cool!"" The humans said. There was more silence. They weren't sure what to do.

"You know, after a meal, I like to lie down on the ground and feel like garbage." The ghost spoke up. "Do you… wanna join me?" He asked hesitantly.

"Um… sure." The girl said before lying down in the middle of the room. The ghost joined her.

The last thing the boy wanted to do was hurt the poor ghost's feelings, so he hesitantly lied down as well. "Being left to my own thoughts… what could possibly go wrong?" He mumbled.

And then… they just laid there. For about a minute, they just laid there silently. It was a bit awkward at first, but a chance to really relax in a safe place and just stop moving for a bit was nice after getting chased and attacked by monsters. Then all of the sudden the humans felt themselves start floating, giving them no chance to be alone with their thoughts. They couldn't move their bodies, but they were able to turn their heads slightly and take in a sight that was somehow more beautiful than the room filled with glowing everything. They were floating in space, surrounded by countless galaxies and stars.

Then, as quick as it came, they felt themselves settle back onto the wooden floor and all the galaxies were gone. They wished for them to come back so they could take in the wondrous sight, but nothing came.

"Well, that was nice." Napstablook said, seemingly satisfied and actually a bit happy. "Well um… I'm gonna keep working on that mix CD, so… you can go now, if you want."

"Oh, well… it was nice hanging out with you, Napstablook." The teen said with a smile.

"Goodbye, Blooky!" The child said before taking her friend's hand and leaving the house. Only when they left did they realize that Spookwave had been playing this whole time, and they wondered why they hadn't been hearing it a second ago when they were supposedly in space. Had they actually gone to some other place? They could only wonder.

As they stepped back into the tranquil area, they noticed a familiar muscular seahorse and the walking tub. The two monsters noticed the humans, but then their faces contorted when they noticed the music playing.

"What the heck is that music?" Woshua asked.

"I-I dunno dude but it's spookin me out. ;)" Aaron said before winking, as usual.

"This is worse than Shyren." The tub monster said, and its little bird chirped seemingly in agreement.

"No way, Shyren is way less scary. ;)" Aaron argued while shaking like a leaf in the wind.

The tub gave the other monster a confused look. "If you're so scared, why do you keep winking?" It asked.

"THESE ARE WINKS OF FEAR! ;)" Aaron exclaimed before winking again with a terrified expression, and the nearby humans fell over laughing.

"Forget it. This beat is too… filthy." Woshua said before walking away, water splashing out of it as it went.

Aaron continued shaking. "Wosh! Wait! Don't leave me! ;)" He cried out. "Is this creepy music my punishment for being creepy? ;) Please… stop… I'll never creep again! ;) Waaaahhhhhh! ;)" And the buff monster swam away as well.

The humans were currently in tears.

"OH GOD the tranquility of this place has been absolutely _ruined_!" The older human exclaimed as he gasped for air.

The girl laughed in agreement. There was nothing tranquil about this place anymore. She jumped across the small lake and turned to stare into its waters for a few seconds. She stared at her own reflection and her demeanor changed suddenly. "AJ? What are we doing here?"

He stopped and turned to her. She didn't sound curious, she sounded quite serious. "Well, we're looking for a good home, aren't we? A place with food, friends, and beds for both of us?"

"I thought so… but… I… I feel like that isn't why you're doing this." She said sadly.

His eyes widened. "Why would you think that?"

She looked down sadly. "I don't know why. I just… I remember what you said, and… Are you just trying to protect me until we get out of here?"

The accuracy of that question made him take a step back, his expression a mix of shock and sadness. "W-Why do you-"

"Can you please just be honest with me?" Frisk requested.

He looked away from her and down the really long hall to their right. "Right now, all I want to do is learn what the heck the barrier is. This is such a long hall here, I bet there's more writing on those walls if we just go down it. So come on, let's go." He requested before starting to walk forward and holding his hand out behind him so the child could take it if she wanted. The girl pouted behind him before hesitantly following. They reached a point in the hall where they could take a left or right instead of going forward, but… "Yep! I see more writings." The teen noted before jogging forward to read them.

"Hurt, beaten, and fearful for our lives, we surrendered to the humans. Seven of their greatest magicians sealed us underground with a magic spell. Anything can enter through the seal, but only beings with a powerful SOUL can leave. There is only one way to reverse this spell. If a huge power, equivalent to seven human SOULs, attacks the barrier, it will be destroyed." They had to jump over the current of a waterfall to reach the next piece of text. "But this cursed place has no entrances or exits. There is no way a human could come here. We will remain trapped down here forever." Frisk let out a disheartened noise at this revelation.

"Well, they must have been trapped her quite a long time if the mountain eroded enough for people to fall through." AJ figured. "So this is what that dummy was talking about."

"Well, now we know, so what are we doing?" Frisk asked adamantly.

"You're that determined to know, huh?" He asked before looking away from her and letting out an annoyed sigh. "Fine! I didn't care about your stupid quest when we fell down here, okay!? I just wanted to get you out of here!" He answered before turning away from her. "…But for awhile now I've though that you're better off down here with sans, or Toriel, then going back up to the surface to be with other humans." He went silent and waited for her to respond.

"Why are you turned away? Do you think I'm mad at you?" She asked.

"Why wouldn't you be? I lied to you." He responded without turning back to her. "I pretended to be a part of something really important to you when I really didn't care about it."

She walked up in front of him and smiled at him. "I'm not mad at you." She said matter-of-factly. "What do you think of our quest now?"

"It's still your quest." He said bluntly. "Come on, Frisk! Do you really expect me to believe you don't feel betrayed _at all_!?" He asked.

"Well of course I do, but that doesn't matter!" She said, maintaining her cheerfulness. "You're still learning right now, but I can just feel that you'll soon see that this is our quest _and_ that everything will work out! There's so much to see out there! Do _you_ really expect me to believe that you don't want to see any of it?"

He tilted his head as he thought of things from her perspective. 'Yeah, I guess for her the idea of not living to see the world must be pretty strange.' "Well, no, I don't expect you to understand, I never did." He answered, making her frown a little. "You don't have to understand, but hey, you don't have to go to the surface either. If we can't find a proper home, you can just go back to Toriel."

She smiled and shook her head. She wasn't going to repeat herself, so she just held out her hand. "Come on, let's go. I think we passed someone back there and I wanna go see them."

The kid started to pull him along again, back over the waterfall and down the hall, and he was incredibly shocked and confused. He expected her to be a bit of an innocent little child that might be too pure for this world, but she shrugged off lying to her as if it was nothing. And, she seemed to think he was going to change his mind about things. He couldn't help but shake his head. "You are a weird kid." He commented, but she simply giggled in response, taking that as a compliment like it had been once before.

* * *

They came back to the rooms they had walked past and Frisk walked them into one of the rooms. They were immediately met with a monster behind a counter, and they realized this was another shop, although this shop was in a cave filled with more glowing crystals. The monster looked like an incredibly old, humanoid tortoise, he wore the uniform you would expect to see on an archaeologist, he even had the hat and magnifying glass to complete the look. "Woah there!" The old man greeted. "I've got some neat junk for sale if you're interested."

"Hey there." AJ greeted. "I've uh… never seen you before." He noted.

"Well my name's Gerson!" The monster greeted. "I've been around a long time, maybe too long… Although, studying history sure is easy when you've lived through most of it! Wahaha!" He laughed.

The teen noticed that there was a familiar emblem on the wall behind the monster. 'Ok. Um, how do we ask about that emblem without looking like idiots? How well known is that thing? We literally have it on our backs and have no idea what it means… Wow, we should have asked sans about this.'

"What's that symbol?" Frisk asked.

'Welp!'

The old man's nearly toothless smile fell at the question and his one opened eye widened. "What!? You don't know about the Delta Rune when you're wearing it!? What do they teach you kids these days!?" He asked rhetorically.

"W-Well I know what it is!" The younger human countered. "They just… never told us much about it…" She added hesitantly, and the older human raised an eyebrow at the fact that she was lying.

Gerson sighed before pointing at the emblem. "Well, the delta rune is the emblem of our kingdom! The Kingdom… of Monsters. Wahaha! Great name, huh?" The humans chuckled. "It's what I always say… Ol' King Fluffybuns can't name for beans!"

The older human chuckled. "Fluffybuns?" He repeated.

"Oh, you wanna know why I call Dreemurr that?" Gerson guessed. "Well that's a great story!… I don't remember it." He realized. "But if you come back much later, I might have remembered it by then!"

"Alright, well is there anything else you can tell us about the delta rune?" The boy asked.

"Well, that emblem actually predates written history, so its original meaning has been lost to time." The old man started. "All we know is that the triangles symbolize us monsters below, and the winged circle symbolizes… something else. Most say it's the angel, from the prophecy."

"The what?" Frisk asked.

"Oh yeah, the prophecy." The monster remembered. "Legend has it, an angel who has seen the surface will descend from above and bring us freedom. Lately though, the people have been taking a bleaker outlook. They're now calling that winged circle the angel of death, come to free us from this mortal realm. In my opinion, when I see that little circle… I just think it looks neat! Wahaha!"

'Alright, well since this rune makes us seem like people from the capital, let's play off that.' "So we've been hearing about this Undyne person. Can you tell us about them?" AJ asked.

"Undyne? Oh yeah, she's the local hero around here." Gerson said. "Through grit and determination alone, she fought her way to the top of the Royal Guard. Actually, she had come through here just a bit ago asking about two people just like you." He remembered, and the humans tried to hide their worry. He didn't seem to care too much though. "I'd watch your backs if I were either of you, and I'd buy some items! It might just save your hides! Wahaha!"

"Aaaah aren't you clever?" The teen commented with a raised eyebrow and a smirk that the monster returned. "Do we need anything?" He asked his fellow human.

"I mean, we still have four cinnabuns and a piece of candy." She responded.

"So not really?"

"No, not really."

"That's a shame. Well, be careful, kids!" Gerson said and waved to them as they left.

The humans quickly checked the other room across from Gerson's, but it was empty besides the river nearby. There was little to do but move forward, back down the hall and past the writings near the waterfalls and echo flowers. They entered a cavern that was smaller and darker than the one they had been in. Tall grass covered every foot of the place, along with a few glowing trees. There was a portion of the grass that was glowing bright white, however, and the glowing grass formed a path. The humans figured it was best to follow the path through the dark room. They didn't have to wade through the grass for long though as the path quickly came to an end, all that was left was a glowing patch of mushrooms.

Frisk was quick to try and touch the fungi, but AJ pulled her back. "Are we sure we should touch that? Mushrooms can be poisonous, and this one could release spores or something." He said worriedly.

"What else would we do?" The girl asked.

"Well step back real quick." The taller human requested before pulling out his machete and reaching to touch the mushroom with the flat end of his blade. Nothing happened, but by the way it moved after being touched. "Wait… is it rubber or something!?" He asked.

The younger human decided it was safe enough to touch and quickly moved past him and grabbed it. It squeaked like a rubber duck, and some of the grass to their right lit up, continuing the path. "Oh! I knew it would help us!" She exclaimed.

The grass rustled as the humans continued through the room, coming across a few more mushrooms and lighting the path as they went along. At one point though, they came to a dead end, and there were no more mushrooms to guide them. "What now?" The girl asked.

"Uhhh let's go back. Maybe we need to tap one of the mushrooms again." The boy responded, and they started walking back the way they came to test his theory. On their way back, though, they noticed light coming from the wall. Growing curious, they decided to push through grass that wasn't glowing at the moment and approached the light of the wall. Without as much grass in the way, they could see this light was coming through a doorway in the wall. They walked through and…

(Temmie Village – Undertale OST)

…came across… something.

"Determination?"

They were in a room smaller than the grass-filled one. Inside the room was a bunch of small… dog…goat…cat… things? They were adorable if a bit strange. Despite walking on all fours, they still wore shirts, and they all had black hair for some reason. There was a sign near the entrance that said "hOI! welcom to… TEM VILLAGE!"

"I think this is a place where language, knowledge, and logic go to die…" AJ deadpanned, and Frisk was honestly too confused to laugh at the moment.

"HoI!" One near the door greeted with a cheerful-high pitched voice. "I'm temmie! And dis is my friend… temmie!" It said, pointing with one paw towards the temmie next to it."

The humans looked over at the next Temmie. "HoI! I'm temmie! And dis _my_ friend… temmie!" It said, pointing to the temmie next to it.

"HoI! I'm temmie! Don't forget my friend!" The third Tem said, turning its head to the fourth tem that looked literally the same as all the other tems.

The humans approached the fourth tem cautiously. "Hi. I'm Bob." The monster greeted casually and waved at them.

"What created these things?..." The older human whispered, leaning away slightly from all the temmies.

Meanwhile, the child gave a big fake smile and waved back while whispering. "I don't know…"

The humans noticed a large painting behind the four temmies. On it was another temmie riding the dark form of a dragon. Under the picture was the text "rich history of tem." They noticed a few more temmies scattered around the other end of the room, and near them was a large statue of a temmie with the text "TEM" written on the pedestal under it. There was another small room connected to the place, and it looked like a shop. Next to the entrance of the shop was two signs. One said "hOI! u shud check out… TEM SHOP!" The other said "yaYA! i AGREES! shud check… TEM SHOP!"

The humans took a few steps back and stood in the middle of the room-like cave. Once they took in everything and accepted the strange creatures for what they were, they admitted that they really did look kind of cute.

"Oh! I know what it is now!" Frisk said suddenly. "It's not determination, its detemmienation!" She exclaimed, and her fellow human burst out laughing.

"Yes! The Temmie Nation!" He shouted.

"No! It's detemmienation, not the temmie nation." She corrected.

"Nope, it's the temmie nation." He argued with a grin and motioned around them. "This is the entire temmie nation."

She realized there was no point arguing with him about it since he wasn't taking her seriously. So, she just turned to walk into the shop instead, and he followed her in. The temmie at the shop was different than the others. It had a striped shirt, and its hair was a different color. They wondered how else this temmie was different. "HoI! Welcom to… da TEM SHOP!" It greeted. It stood inside a cardboard box with "TEM SHOP" written in yellow and blue paint. There were a few different objects behind it hanging from the wall or on a table. Among those items were a sock, a trash can, a stick, a bone, a potion, and a picture of a familiar white dog.

"Uh… hi there." AJ greeted.

"Hi!" Frisk greeted.

The temmie's face lit up at their greeting. "HoI! I'm Temmie!"

'There doesn't seem to actually be that much else different about this one.' "Uh… can you tell us about yourself?" The older human asked.

"I'm Temmie!" The temmie answered.

'Nope, nothing different at all…'

"Can you tell us about your, um… people?" The short human asked, unsure if 'people' was the proper word there.

"Us tems hav a DEEP HISTORY!" The tem exclaimed. They waited for it to say more, but it just stared at them with its open-mouth smile.

"…Can you tell us about that history?" AJ asked.

"It's vewy DEEP!" The temmie answered, and said no more.

"Okay… what do you sell here?" Frisk asked.

"yaYA! Go check out TEM SHOP!" The shop owner exclaimed.

"Alright, we're leaving." The boy deadpanned before walking out of the shop. The girl left as well, because she had a feeling the temmie wouldn't sell anything really useful anyway.

"So… what now?" She asked.

"Well obviously this wasn't the way we were supposed to go, so I guess we'll just have to go back and figure out the grass puzzle thing." He answered as they started to walk away. Their talking, however, woke up a nearby temmie that had been sleeping.

"Huh?" It said, causing the humans to turn to it. It smiled widely when it saw what they were. "HOOMANS! Such… a CUTE! MUST PET!" It exclaimed before one of its legs suddenly and rapidly grew in length and moved towards the humans. It tapped the older human's face, and then its expression suddenly changed to one of dread. "OH NO! H-Hoomans r allergic to tem!" It remembered. The humans just stood there for a few seconds, and nothing happened. The tem looked confused. "H-Hooman not allergic 2 tem?"

"Nah. I'm part cat."

"Yay!"

Frisk could just barely tell that he said that jokingly, but he said it so casually that the monster took him seriously and started to pet him with its really long leg. "Why does the temmie get to pet you!?" The girl complained.

"Because after this thing is done petting me, we are leaving and I will probably never have to deal with these things again. That is definitely not the case with you." The older human answered casually.

"What does that have to do with anything!?" Frisk asked, confused.

"It's a little thing called embarrassment." AJ answered simply.

"You're embarrassed that I know you're weakness?" The girl asked with a teasing smirk.

He blushed slightly and squinted at her. "Shut up." He requested.

The humans finally left the Temmie Village and quickly found their path of glowing grass again. They continued backtracking to see if anything had changed. They had made it half way back through the path without noticing any changes, when suddenly, they heard rustling that wasn't being caused by them. They froze and got low to the ground, hoping whatever else was near would pass them. The rustling got closer to them, until a large, dark figure loomed over them.

"Hey guys! ;) Ready for more flexing? ;)" Asked the seahorse as it flew above them and posed, showing off his muscles, which had duct tape on them.

"Oh god, it's The Winkening!" AJ exclaimed dramatically before gaining a deadpan stare as he pulled out his machete and gripped the string attached to it. "Bye." He said before throwing his blade at the monster, cutting another hole in its right arm. It quickly covered the hole with its free hand to hold in the air. It gave the human an awkward smile, which was met with a cut in his other arm.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO! ;)" Aaron cried out as the air leaking out of his arms propelled him high into the air and out of their sight.

"Looks like The Winkening was one of those sequels they just never should have made." The boy commented before sheathing his blade and continuing down the glowing path. Frisk laughed and followed him along.

"You were aiming to do that and not actually hurt him, right?" She asked.

"Of course." He answered.

They found out that the start of the glowing path had been changed at some point, and they were able to find the correct way out.

* * *

 **Well that was certainly something.**

 **Yep, that's all I have to say. I'm in a bit of a rush today and don't want to bore you all with my rambling anyway.**

 **Have a great week!**


	16. DA, DA, DADA DA DA!

**(Better a day late than never, eh?)**

 **Alright so I was going to have a fight with Moldbyg before we got to Undyne but…**

… **let's just get to the point, shall we?**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.16

* * *

Upon leaving the room they were in, they realized they were in another room of similar size and filled with similarly tall grasses. "Hang on." AJ said before jumping into the air. Just for a second, he was able to see that the glowing grass split in multiple directions here, but the exit to this room could already be seen. "Alright." He said after landing. "I see the way to go." They walked through the glowing grass for a few seconds before they noticed the room was getting darker, and the light of the grass was fading away. The two humans sped up in a vain attempt to get out before it got too dark, but it became nearly pitch black in moments.

They stood perfectly still, fearful of what may be in the dark, when Frisk noticed a bit of light through the grass. "I see something." She pointed out.

"I don't. Lead the way." The boy requested. She walked straight towards where she saw a glimpse of light, and they soon came across a small safe point of light in the vast darkness of the cave. There was a small lantern on the ground that was generating pure white light, and its light seemed to be lighting up the grass around it as well, revealing the glowing path once more. The older human held his machete in one hand and the lantern in the other as they slowly continued along the winding path. Luckily for them, nothing attacked them, and they were able to leave the room and get back into the light.

Then as they walked into some shallow water, the light went away again. "How is that happening?" He asked aloud, though he knew that he would get no answer and would just have to blame magic, again. They hugged the wall on their right and kept the lantern up high, until they reached the only thing glowing in the area, an echo flower. They walked up to it and the girl decided to touch the flower.

"Behind you." It said.

They spun around and faced the darkness. Suddenly, the darkness vanished as dozens of magic spears appeared in front of them, lighting up the place and revealing the armored figure once again. Undyne had cornered them again. AJ quickly dropped the lantern and got in front of the child, standing tall with his weapon ready.

Undyne simply stared at them for a moment longer before speaking. "Seven… Seven human souls. With the power of seven human souls, or king… King Asgore Dreemurr, will become a god. With that power, Asgore can finally shatter the barrier. He will finally take the surface back from humanity, and give them back the suffering and pain that we have endured. Do you understand now, humans? I have not been attacking without reason. This, is your only chance at redemption. Either one of you gives me your soul, or I will tear them both from your bodies!" She shouted before creating another spear in her hands and preparing to charge.

"Sorry, but I'm not letting that happen." The taller human said.

"We don't have to fight, you don't have to do this." Frisk pleaded.

"You can't just put what our race did who knows how many years ago on us! We had nothing to do with that!" AJ pointed out.

"Hmph." Undyne realized they wouldn't give their souls, so she went to run at them, and the humans braced. Both sides paused though when they heard rustling in some nearby sea grass. Suddenly, a familiar monster kid came barreling out and stood between the two parties.

"Undyne! I'll help you fight!" He shouted before noticing the younger human. "YO! You did it! Undyne is right in front of you! You've both got front row seats to her fight!" He then looked around at everyone in the room and gained a confused smile. "Wait… who's she fighting?" Kid asked. Undyne made an irritated noise before grabbing the kid by his cheek and stomping off, taking the kid with her. "H-Hey! You aren't gonna tell my parents about this, are you!?"

"We gotta go, now!" The older human said before taking the girl's hand and running. Some crystals in the area seemed to have reacted to the light of Undyne's spears and were now glowing brightly, allowing them to see another path to take. They ran through a room filled with echo flowers and glowing grass, and they ran past some more writing on the walls.

"However, there is a prophecy. The Angel, The One Who Has Seen The Surface… they will return, and the Underground will go empty."

Passing this, they turned right and left the cave within a cave once again.

"Determination!" The girl shouted as they ran and started to cross a wooden bridge in the massive cave they were once again able to see.

"Yo!" They stopped and spun around when they heard the familiar voice behind them. They saw monster kid take a few steps onto the bridge, stopping at the half way point and looking hesitant. The older human wanted to just keep running before Undyne found them again, but the girl wouldn't let him. "Yo, I know I'm not supposed to be here, but… I wanna ask you both something." He said before looking down. "Man, I've never had to ask anyone this before… um… Yo, you're humans, right? Haha…" They nodded. "Man, I knew it! Well, I know it know, I mean… Undyne told me, um, 'stay away from those humans'. So, like, um… I guess that makes us enemies or something. But… I kind of stink at that, haha. Yo, say something mean so I can hate you? Please?"

"Why would I ever say something mean?" The girl asked with a friendly smile.

"You haven't really done anything wrong to us, heck you helped us!" The boy added.

"Yo, what? So I have to do it?" Kid asked, seeming extremely hesitant. "Alright… here goes nothing… I, I hate your guts!" He said with no conviction whatsoever. "Man, I… I'm such a turd. I'm… I'm just gonna go home now." He said, seeming a bit disappointed in himself, before turning around and walking away. Of course, he had to fall on his face one more time, but since they were on such a thin bridge, he ended up rolling off as well. "AH!" He cried out before grabbing the edge of the bridge with his teeth.

Both humans gasped before Frisk ran forward to pull the kid up. Just then, Undyne appeared at the end of the bridge. "Agh! I knew we should have just kept running!" AJ complained as he pulled out his weapon once again and dashed forward to get in front of his fellow human. Undyne started to march towards them, but once the younger human pulled the monster up, it gained a defiant look in his eyes and he actually jumped in front of the tall human.

"Y-Yo! If you wanna hurt my friends, you're gonna have to go through me, first!" Kid shouted, surprising the humans.

The warrior's body language showed her hesitance, and she eventually backed up and left them alone. The boy stared at the monster in front of him. "T-Thank you." He said, still surprised by the kid's actions and his bravery.

"Yeah, thank you!" The girl said as well.

Kid turned around with an embarrassed expression. "W-Well, you really saved my skin so…" He trailed off before realizing something. "I guess being enemies was just a nice thought, haha." The humans chuckled in agreement. "We'll just have to be friends instead."

"Yay!" Frisk cheered, making Monster Kid smile.

"…Man, I should really go home!" The kid realized. "I bet my parents are worried sick about me!"

"Bye then!" Frisk said and waved.

"Don't fall!" AJ said worriedly.

The monster turned and nodded. "Later, dudes!" He said before crossing the bridge completely and leaving.

"Alright, now let's finally get out of here while we can." The older human said, and the child nodded in agreement. They ran down the bridged path for a few more seconds until they came across an even more massive portion of the Underground. Far into the distance they could see machinery, tall towers of metal with unknown functions. Also as far as they could see was a field of rocky spikes, mini mountains under Mount Ebott. There was a cave that seemed to go under the field of mountains and headed in the direction of the machinery, but the cave was under the tallest of the rock spikes, and atop that tallest spike was a warrior in metal armor. "Frisk, remember when I mentioned someone that wouldn't stop trying to kill us?"

"Yeah?"

The boy held up his blade. "I never actually wanted to deal with someone like that."

"Seven." Undyne had their backs to them as she stood high above them, but she knew they were there. "Seven human souls and King Asgore will become a god." She turned towards them somewhat. "Six. That's how many we have collected thus far." She turned to completely face them. "Understand? Through the seventh and final soul, this world will be transformed. First, however, as customary for those who make it this far… allow me to tell you the tragic tale of our people." She turned completely away from them again. "It all started, long ago…"

…

"No, you know what?" Undyne turned back to them.

(Ngahhh! – Undertale OST)

"SCREW IT!"

 _DA_ , DA, DADA DA DA!

"WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU THAT STORY,"

 _DA,_ DA, DADA DA DA!

"WHEN YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE!?"

 _DA,_ DA, DADA DA DA!

"NGAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

DA DA DA

DA DA DA

 _DA_!

The warrior ripped her helmet off and revealed her true face. A blue fish lady with an eyepatch over her left eye. "You're standing in the way of everyone's hopes and dreams!" She shouted, pointing at the humans. "Alphys's history books made me think humans were cool, with their giant robots and flowery swordswomen. BUT YOU? You're just _cowards_!"

His grip tightened.

"Hiding behind that kid like that so you could run away from me again! And let's not forget your goody-two-shoes-schtick! Oh! Look at me! I'm being such a good person by sparing everyone I meet!" She taunted. "You know what would be more valuable to everyone? If you were both _dead_!"

He snapped. "AND YOU KNOW WHAT I THINK!?" AJ suddenly shouted angrily. "I THINK _YOU'RE_ THE REAL COWARD HERE!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. "YOU HAD PLENTY OF CHANCES TO KILL US, AND YOU HAVEN'T DONE A DAMN THING YET! I BET YOU'VE BEEN MAKING EXCUSES FOR ALL THOSE TIMES YOU LET US LIVE, HAVEN'T YOU!?" Undyne gave him the strongest glare she could manage, and boy was he matching it. "WHY DON'T YOU STOP STALLING AND FIGHT ME!?" He shouted before flipping her off, not even caring if she didn't get what that meant.

But her expression… That's the expression of someone who _very much understood that gesture_.

"Alright…" She created a spear in her hand and posed heroically. "You want a fight? I'll GIVE YOU ONE!" She shouted and jumped down from the mountain and landed in the middle of a flat area before the rock spires. The human ran into the arena like area to meet the monster. The wind started howling.

* * *

(Spear of Justice – Undertale OST)

Undyne swiped her spear in front of her, sending out a wave of green energy that caught the boy before he could move. He felt something in his chest was off, and he looked down to see his soul was light green now. "En guarde!" Undyne shouted before hopping back and creating a few spears above her. "As long as you're green, you can't escape! Unless you learn to face danger head on, you won't last a second against me!" She said before launching the spears at her opponent.

AJ's eyes widened in fear and he tried to move, but his feet refused to lift off the ground. He really did have no choice but to stand his ground. He met her attacks head on and slashed the spears as they came. "Not bad." Undyne frowned. "Try this!" She sent more spears this time, and he panicked and simply ducked under them. He was frustrated that he wasn't able to attack her before remembering the string and throwing his weapon straight at the monster. She was surprised by the attack, but she deflected it away easily.

"Undyne! We don't want to fight you!" Frisk yelled from the background.

"No I'm pissed off so I'll just be honest, I _really_ want to fight you." The other human growled out.

The fish monster smirked. "That impatient, huh? Alright!" She swung out another green energy wave, turning his soul back to red. "Here ya go!" She shouted, creating twenty spears around her.

That sobered him up. She sent the spears one at a time rapidly, so he had to run around and jump to avoid getting hit as the spears crashed down around him and kicked up dust. Finally he had an opening and he rushed at Undyne to bring his machete down on her head, even though she was the taller one here. She was ready and gladly clashed her weapon with his before kicking him back. He landed in a roll just fine but ended up having to quickly backpedal as she tried to stab him. He fumbled at one point and failed to back up any further, so he raised his blade and used it to block the tip of her spear, creating sparks.

He pushed her back and jumped up to counter attack, and Undyne smirked as she backed up and kept her spear raised. He swung at her left, but she blocked it. He swung again, but she blocked again. He stabbed at her chest, but she deflected the attack away. She tried to counter stab him, but he dodged and kept attacking. Sparks flew as she kept blocking his attacks. "Gotta admit, I like your fighting spirit so far!" Undyne commented before deflecting another swing and leaving him open to a slash across his chest. She turned his soul green while he reeled and jumped onto the side of the largest mountain to create another mass of spears.

"Here!" Frisk called out, and her fellow human turned in time to catch a cinna-bun.

"Thanks…" He said before pocketing the item.

"W-What are you doing!?" The girl asked, confused, but he turned away from her and looked back at him opponent while clutching his wound.

Undyne chuckled at his glare before running her finger across her neck as her spears attacked again. The human held his ground and kept his sword high, deflecting all the spears that actually would have hit him in the massive barrage. The rest of them crashed around him and covered him in a cloud of dust. He coughed and tried to blow away the dust, but Undyne suddenly came crashing into the cloud and swung right at him with her fists. Out of instinct he was able to dodge to dodge her first swing, but knew he had to raise his arms and block the second. Her powerful punch sent him flying out of the cloud and nearly off the edge of the platform, but Frisk was able to catch him and stop him from falling.

"I'm sorry… I'm trying to think of something, but I really can't right no-" Frisk stopped when she saw her fellow human was glaring at Undyne and not even listening to her.

He got up in an instant and ran at the monster again with a furious roar. He jumped above her and brought his blade down, but Undyne easily dodged it and tried to kick him when he landed, but he quickly jumped away from her. She jumped at him in response and tried to stab him, but he jumped to the side and threw his blade at her as he flew back. The ranged slash broke into her armor, but it didn't get all the way through, so she simply pushed forward as the human pulled his blade back. He got his machete back in his grip just as she got in range and tried to slash him with her spear. He backpedaled as he deflected her spear and ducked under punches aimed for his head. Eventually he ducked under a lunge for his head and Undyne ended up stabbing the rock wall behind him instead. He quickly acted and slashed at her leg while he ducked under her extended arm to get some distance from her.

The attack didn't hurt her much, but she definitely felt it. She jumped up to the top of the mountain before ripping the top off of it and throwing it down at the humans. It crashed onto the arena and shattered, scattering sharp rocks everywhere and pelting the humans with them. Undyne used this chance to jump down and try to land right on the older human with her spear, but the boy was ready and he raised his blade and braced with both his hands as the warrior crashed down onto him, creating a shockwave from the force. Just for an instant, a dim light blue glow came from Undyne's eye, and the light reflected off the human's eyes as well. Both of them suddenly smiled and dropped their weapons and pulled back an arm to swing at their opponent. Their fists met each other's faces and knocked them back as well as down.

Undyne was the first to get up, but she saw AJ was standing up as well. "What the hell!? Anyone else would be dead by now!" She exclaimed before turning him green again. She sent more spears at him, but he stood his ground and destroyed her attacks, even though she was trying as hard as she could to kill him. It helped that he had discovered that while his feet can't lift off the ground, he can still slide them along the ground, allowing some movement.

'What is this feeling? I've felt it before… haven't I?' The older human thought as he clashed in close combat once again with Undyne. He was completely holding his own against her. 'I feel like I can do anything!' Sparks and magical energy flew with each clash. 'Is… is this determination? Is that what this power is!?' "HYA!" With sheer brute force her created an opening and slashed Undyne across the chest, leaving a large gash in her armor and definitely tearing into her skin. She was quick to punch him into the ground again, but he just ate the cinna-bun before getting up.

"What the hell are humans made out of!? And what does red mean!?" Undyne asked angrily.

"DETERMINATION!" AJ yelled at the top of his lungs as he charged at the fish warrior.

A slash of green stopped his charge. "Enough!" Undyne exclaimed before jumping backwards to the top of the mountain, the light blue glow in her eye becoming more prominent. "JUST DIE ALREADY!" She shouted furiously and created as many spears as she could at once and launched them all right at her main enemy. The boy's eyes widened suddenly, not in fear, but as if he knew exactly what to do. His left hand gained a red glow around it and he waved that hand over the heart floating over his chest. The green color to it vanished, leaving green sparkles on his hand. The sparkles traveled up his arm slightly and suddenly burst into green light, creating a green shield on his arm in the shape of a heart. He raised his shield and hid behind it, letting it take the all spears at once. "What!?" Undyne could only stare in shock as the shield didn't even crack from all the magic attacks.

"Uh… hey, Undyne?" The tall human asked casually as he stood up straighter. "I just blocked your strongest attack by the looks of it. Can we stop fighting?" He asked, and the monster blinked twice. "My head is really clear all of the sudden and I realized, as fun as fighting you is, I really don't want to actually kill you."

"Mercy!? Ha!" The monster laughed. "What's the point!? Even if I spared you, no human has ever made it past Asgore! Killing you now is a real act of mercy!" She refused to quit, and send a few more spears at him. He blocked her magic with his shield, confirming that the thing wasn't going away. She frowned. "Alphys did say that humans were determined… Well, I'm determined too! Determined to end this, right now!"

She launched herself at the human again and began smashing her spear against his shield as hard as she could. He held his ground, blocking all of her attacks continuously, and his shield still didn't so much as crack. She finally had an idea and used her green magic again, and his shield disappeared. "Ha!" She laughed before swinging at him. He failed to withstand the punch even when he blocked it and was knocked down again. "I'll admit, you're right, fighting you was pretty fun. It's a shame that someone as strong as you can't join the Royal Guard. But sunlight is finally within our reach, and with your soul, monster-kind will finally be free." She turned to Frisk. "Might as well get both. Don't worry, little one, I'll make your death quick." She turned the frightened girl green, and she panicked and tried to create the green shield. She succeeded, but didn't know how she did it. "Ugh, you too!?" Undyne complained before using green magic on the girl and taking away her shield. Undyne created another magic spear in her hand.

Seeing Undyne about to kill the girl, filled the older human with that power he could only assume was determination. His whole body moved on instinct as he grabbed his machete and shot up from behind the warrior. " _GET AWAY FROM HER!_ " He screamed the only thought he had and stabbed the monster in the back. Undyne cried out in pain before spinning around and backhanding the older human away from her. She fell onto one knee as Frisk ran to her fellow human's aid. The boy simply stood up again and glared at the woman.

"Heh… you're not looking so calm and clear headed anymore." Undyne taunted. "Funny, I'd never heard of humans being protective before." She commented before AJ started running at her and threw his machete straight at her. She deflected it away, but he didn't even try to pull it back to him, instead punching the fish woman and sending her flying to the other end of the arena. The monster took to her high ground on the broken mountain and scowled.

"AJ! Please, calm down!" Frisk begged. She paused when she noticed a strange light blue mist starting to leak out of her friend. "W-What is that?"

Undyne squinted to confirm what she was seeing. "No… You didn't." She said, looking angrier than ever before. Her opponent started running at her at a speed far above what he should be capable of. "You did! You BASTARD!" Undyne screamed in rage and jumped down at the human, who jumped into the air to reach her. They clashed in mid-air and created a small burst of light blue energy where they collided that blew them both away, with them landing on their backs hard.

"W-…what the hell just…" AJ trailed off when Frisk grabbed his hand and pulled him up before running towards the cave. "Whoa! Frisk!"

"I'm not watching you two fight any longer!" The girl cried out as she pulled him along and started running for the cave.

"What!? Hey! GET BACK HERE!"

They looked back as they tried to run and saw Undyne behind them. "Well, agh… she probably wasn't giving up any time soon anyway." AJ figured as he tried to keep up with Frisk while his everything was hurting again. The younger human's phone started ringing. "Someone has amazing timing!"

"Hello, humans!" Papyrus shouted through the phone. "I was just thinking, you two, Undyne, and I should all hang out sometime! I think you would make great friends with her! Let's meet up at her fishy house in Waterfall later!" He then hung up before they could say anything, not that they would say much besides I clever comment while they were currently running for their lives through a tunnel. That tunnel quickly ended and they found themselves running along a precarious path high above a massive lava lake. The heat was overwhelming for their faces, but once they pulled up their hoods, they stopped feeling the heat.

They continued ducking under spears as they ran when they passed by a familiar snow-covered structure with a familiar sleeping skeleton in it. ""SANS! HELP US!"" No answer. ""AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"" They continued running and passed by a water cooler. They wished to stop and get a drink, but they ended up stopping because they noticed the metal steps of Undyne were becoming less frequent. They turned and saw the warrior struggling to walk towards them.

"Armor… so hot… but I can't… give up…" Despite her words, she collapsed.

"Alright! This is our chance to finally get away from her!" AJ said desperately.

"No! We can't leave her like this!" Frisk said adamantly before turning to quickly get a cup of water from the cooler.

"Okay that's a good point but when she gets up she's gonna try and kill us again!" He pointed out.

"But we still have to do it. I won't let her die here." She countered before walking over and pouring the water on the monster.

Her fins flapped a bit before he eyes opened and she slowly stood up with a groan. She noticed the humans and looked around with a confused look. Seeing no one else, she honed in on the smiling girl at her feet, who waved at her. She gave Frisk an annoyed scowl before turning and walking away from them.

AJ fell to a sitting position and sighed in relief. "Are… are we finally done with her?..." He asked hopefully, not actually expecting an answer.

His fellow human gave him one though. "Nope! We gotta do what Papyrus said. We gotta go to her house and hang out with her!"

"You were listening to him!?" He asked, surprised. "All I heard from him was 'waterfall.' Do you actually expect us to walk all the way back through waterfall trying to find her house!? I'd rather go to the random lab looking building ahead of us!" He said, pointing to the building ahead of them.

"We'll find a way! With our determination!" She said.

* * *

 **I UNDERSTAND WHY I SHOULD TAKE BREAKS FROM WRITING NOW. WROTE THIS WHOLE CHAPTER IN ONE DAY (because procrastination) I CANT TYPE WITH MY RIGHT HAND ANYMORE! OOOOOOOW!**

 **Alright so here is the exact reason I hate writing fight scenes: They take forever to write, and I always hate the final product anyway. There, that's it in simple terms! Though, for this fight, I was eventually able to get just a bit into it when I started listening to the Power of NEO remix. Just goes to show, that song fits everything!**

 **I noticed that review about Undyne getting the carp beat out of her. Love the pun by the way! XD I kind of laughed when I saw that for a reason besides the pun though… I have a different idea of Undyne. My idea of Undyne is that she is the single strongest monster in the Underground. She has some determination after all. That's just** _ **my**_ **headcanon for her, though I obviously decided to make her that way in my fanfic.**

 **Anyway, have a great day!**


	17. An Unusual Cooking Lesson

**To the fishy house!**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.17

* * *

"Oh!" Frisk exclaimed as if she had remembered something. "AJ!" She called, and her fellow human turned to her. "Thank you!" She exclaimed.

He gave her a confused look. "Um… you're welcome?"

"What? I'm saying thank you for protecting me!" The girl explained.

"Oh okay. Maybe uh, mention that next time, please?" He requested as politely as he could.

"What do you mean?" The younger human asked.

"I mean like, say 'thank you for protecting me.' I'm not a mind reader, so I don't always know what you mean." He explained.

The girl let out an understanding "Oh!" and nodded. "Okay. I just noticed that I don't remember ever saying thank you for protecting me for all this time, so I thought I should say it now." She explained with her usual smile.

"Well of course I'm gonna protect ya." AJ said as he walked over to the water cooler to get his own cup of water. "I wouldn't just let a kid get hurt, especially not a good kid like you." The girl blushed and smiled brighter at his praise while he drank a cup of water. "We must protect the endangered species!" He exclaimed before tossing the cup to her. Once they'd both gotten a drink, they continued forwards. Frisk hoped they would find some way to somehow get back to waterfall quickly. If they didn't find something soon though, they would have to turn around and start walking.

They didn't walk very far before noticing the path branch off. There was now the option of going right and into a cave again. Their cloaks were protecting them from the harsh heat, but they could definitely feel the cold air coming from this cave. They decided to check it out, and ended up coming into an area that looked like the rest of Waterfall. The room was empty besides the river cutting through it, the boat on the river, and a cloaked figure standing on that boat.

"Tra la la… I am The Riverman. Or am I The Riverwoman? It doesn't really matter. I like to ride in my boat. Care to join me?" The figure asked.

Admittedly this mysterious figure shouldn't have seemed very trustworthy at all. In fact, he/she should have left them feeling suspicious. But for some reason, they felt this figure wasn't a threat.

"Do you know where Undyne's house is?" The older human asked.

"Ah, yes. I can take you to Waterfall." The figure answered.

"Great!" Frisk exclaimed before hopping on the boat. "Take us there, please!" She requested, and AJ stepped on as well.

"Off we go." The Riverwoman said, and the boat suddenly began moving across the water at high speeds. The humans got as low as they could out of fear of flying off the boat, seeing as there was no rail or anything to keep them from falling off. "Those are some nice cloaks you have." The Riverperson commented casually, clearly used to the high speeds.

"Thanks!" Frisk said.

"Thanks?" AJ said, slightly concerned that the figure was going to try and take them.

They did no such thing and they simply came to a stop at an area nearly identical to where they had started. They saw Gerson through the way out of the room though, and realized where they were. "Just take a left and head down the hall until you reach the tranquil area. Go left before reaching the residence of the ghosts. Hard to miss a house that looks like a fish." The mysterious figure commented.

"Thank you!" The younger human said.

"Do we need to pay you, or?..." The boy trailed off.

"Having company on my ride is payment enough." The Riverman answered. "Tra la la. Have a good time. I will be waiting here."

The humans left the room and waved at Gerson before making a left and going down the hall.

"Oh! Hey, AJ?"

"Yeah?"

"What was that blue stuff that came out while you were fighting Undyne?" The girl asked.

"Uh… I don't know. I think it was some sort of magic that Undyne used." He guessed. "I mean, it is about the same color as her magic spears." He reasoned.

"But there was blue mist coming out of you, too, at the end." She pointed out.

"There was?" He responded, confused.

"Yeah, and then you ran really fast!" She added.

They re-entered the tranquil room, though they could only remember non-tranquil things when they looked at the room, making them grin for seemingly no reason.

"I was wondering how I ran that fast!" He exclaimed. "We must be finally getting our own magic! That would explain how we made those shields!" He reasoned.

"And the blue stuff?" She asked.

"NO IDEA!" He exclaimed as he threw his arms up, making her chuckle.

"HUMANS?" A familiar skeleton peeked around the corner they were approaching. "HUMANS!" Papyrus exclaimed happily.

"Papy!" Frisk exclaimed happily.

"Oh! Hey, Papyrus!" AJ greeted.

"READY TO HANG OUT WITH UNDYNE?"

"Yep!" Frisk answered.

"No way this could go wrong…" AJ deadpanned.

(She's Playing Piano – Undertale OST)

The trio turned the corner and approached a large house that did truly resemble an angry fish. As they approached, they noticed they could hear someone playing a pleasant tune on a piano. "PST! I HAVE A PLAN TO MAKE YOU TWO GREAT FRIENDS WITH UNDYNE." The skeleton whispered loudly. "MAKE SURE TO GIVE HER THIS." He said before holding up a bone wrapped in yellow foil with a red ribbon. "SHE LOVES THESE." He then put the bone away rather than giving it to them and knocked on the door. "NOW JUST STAND BEHIND ME TILL I GIVE THE WORD." The piano stopped being played.

"And you stand behind me, Frisk." The older human requested.

The teeth of the house opened up to reveal the fish-monster, only she wore a black tank top and blue jeans instead of her massive suit of armor. Despite not wearing the armor, she still stood at nearly Papyrus's height. "Hi, Papyrus! Ready for your extra-private, one-on-one training?" She asked with a toothy smile.

"YOU BET I AM! AND I BROUGHT MY FRIENDS!" Papyrus said, and both AJ and Undyne let out sighs at this before quickly pretending that didn't happen and simply smiled. Though for the humans they _needed_ to smile, because Papyrus stepped out of the way after saying that, revealing them to the fish warrior.

"You made some friends, huh? Hi, I'm-" And then Undyne smiled. She smiled a smile so forced that only her lips moved to smile, making her expression just really awkward. Papyrus of course did not notice this and was simply waiting for her response. "Why don't. You three. Come in?" She requested through her teeth before stepping out of the way and letting the monster and humans in.

The closest thing to the humans when they walked in was the table and chairs to their right. There also seemed to be a large sword leaning against the wall near it as well. To the humans' left was a piano, which wasn't something they would have expected to be in her house. At the back of the large room was the kitchen, with the usual stove, sink, cabinets, and refrigerator. To the left of the kitchen area was also a door.

"HERE, UNDYNE. MY FRIENDS BROUGHT A GIFT FOR YOU, ON THEIR OWN!" The skeleton said before giving Undyne the gift-wrapped bone.

The fish lady held it with an awkward smile. "Uhhh… thanks. I'll uh… put it with the others." She said before going to the back and dropping the bone in the drawer. The noise of it falling in suggested just what she said, that there were other bones in there. "So are we ready to start?"

"WHOOPSY DOOPSY!" Papyrus said suddenly and suspiciously. "I JUST REMEMBERED, I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM. YOU THREE HAVE FUN!" He said before literally jumping out the closed window.

Then awkward silence descended as the humans stood in the house of the person that tried to kill them not longs ago. Frisk opened her mouth to speak.

"What are you doing here!?" Undyne asked suddenly, before pointing at the taller human angrily. "Especially you! What are _you_ doing here after what you did!?"

"Look! I'm sorry for literally stabbing you in the back, but-" AJ started.

"Not that, you idiot!" Undyne cut him off. "I'm talking about touching the Ancient Artifact!"

"…The what?" The boy asked, confused.

"The damn orb that's hidden behind the piano puzzle!" Undyne answered.

"That thing!? What is so bad about me touching that!?" He asked, annoyed.

Frisk really wished these two would stop yelling at each other.

"It's an important religious object for our people!" Undyne explained.

"HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT!? THERE WASN'T EXACTLY A 'DO NOT TOUCH' SIGN!" He countered angrily.

Undyne started to yell again, but started sputtering as she realized he was right. She got over that, though. "I DON'T CARE! You touched that thing, and there is no way I can forgive you for that, now get out of my house!" She ordered.

Papyrus peeked in through the broken window with a distressed look. "OH NO… MY FRIENDS ARE ARGUING… I WAS HOPING MY FRIENDS COULD GET TOGETHER AND BECOME FRIENDS AS WELL TO EXPAND THE WEB OF FRIENDSHIP, BUT IT SEEMS… I OVERESTIMATED THEM… IT SEEMS… THEY AREN'T UP TO THE CHALLENGE OF BECOMING FRIENDS WITH EACH OTHER…" He said sadly before leaving.

"CHALLENGE!? What!? Papyrus, wait!" Undyne called out in vain.

AJ meanwhile crossed his arms. "Tch! It's just me getting punished for something no one even told me was bad! Another classic! Whatever! I didn't want to be friends with her anyway!" He said angrily before turning around. "Come on, Frisk, let's-" *THUNK* A energy spear flew past his head and stuck into the wall next to the door.

(Ngahhh! – Undertale OST)

 _DA,_ DA, DADA DA DA!

"NOT SO FAST!" Undyne shouted, and the human spun around to face her. "Papyrus thinks that I can't be friends with you. Well guess what? _He's wrong._ I mean come on! I could become friends with wimpy losers like you any day! But _you_ ," She pointed at AJ. "We're not just gonna be friends, we're gonna be… _BESTIES_. I'll make you like me so much, you won't be able to think of anyone else! It's the prefect revenge!"

The teen had to admit, for not being the sharpest tool in the shed, Papyrus really thought this through! He even had a backup plan if things seemed like they wouldn't work out. Now he could care less about pride, but it's not surprising that Undyne is obsessed with maintaining hers. He was slightly worried about how much this was going to hurt. He didn't want Undyne focusing purely on him, she might be… overzealous.

The monster jumped and landed in front of him and far within his personal space, causing him to lean back. "New bestie! What's your name!?" She asked.

"Um, just call me AJ." He answered while taking a step back so he could stand straight. "And if you want to be friends with me, you gotta be friends with her, too." He said, pointing at his fellow human.

Undyne simply smiled widely at the challenge. "Alright! You're both gonna be my new besties then! Little human!" She jumped over to the girl and crouched down to her height. "What's your name!?"

"Frisk!" She said cheerfully.

"Well hey there, Frisk!" Undyne said and ruffled the girl's hair roughly.

The older human took a step towards the fish and held a hand up in her direction. "Don't touch her." He said simply.

"Alright!" The monster said with enthusiasm before jumping back to the middle of the room. She then suddenly relaxed and gave them a closed-eyed smile. "Why don't you both take a seat?"

(Music stops)

The humans glanced at each other before taking their seats on one side of the dining table. "Comfortable?" Undyne asked, and they nodded. "Alright. I'll get you something to drink." She went over to her fridge and brought out a box of tea, a bottle of yellow soda, some sugar, and a cylindrical container of hot chocolate. "All set. What would you two like?"

Frisk hummed in thought while AJ squinted at the soda. He would rather have a soda than anything else, but only if he knew what kind of soda it was, and he couldn't tell what it was. It wasn't his eyesight, the text on it was just really small. Despite being a guest, he still felt it would be silly and maybe even 'rude' to request Undyne to bring the soda over, so he stood up to get a better look.

They both screamed when a spear suddenly hit the middle of the table and broke it in half. "HEY! DON'T GET UP! YOU'RE THE GUEST, SIT DOWN AND ENJOY YOURSELF!" Undyne ordered before her eyes widened when she realized what she just did. She relaxed and started sweating. "Uh… why not just use the spear to point to what you want?"

Once the humans calmed down from the jumpscare… "Sure… here you go." The teen said as he handed the spear to the child.

"Hmm… The tea." Frisk decided and pointed at it with the spear.

"Alright." Undyne nodded and went to grab the tea while the other human was handed the spear.

He hummed in thought, but his hum sounded distressed. "I want the soda… but I only really like sprite… and I don't like hot chocolate… and I don't want tea… Why can't there just be water?" He mumbled. "No, the water would probably suck, too… Oh why did I have to be born so picky?" He complained and let his head fall onto his side of the broken table.

Frisk pat him on the back comfortingly with a bit of an amused smile. "I think you should just have tea as well." She suggested.

He sighed. "Okay…" He said reluctantly. "I'll have the tea." He said clearly for Undyne.

"That makes thing easier! Coming right up!" Undyne proceeded to grab the tea box, set out the kettle… "It'll take a moment for the water to boil." She said, turning to them for a moment. Eventually the kettle made it clear the water was boiling. "Okay, it's all done!" She said with her clearly forced smile, and politeness… and friendliness. She set two cups of tea for them, with Frisk grabbing hers and AJ placing his arm on the table, so their cups didn't slide down the table. "Here we are." Undyne then took a seat across from them. "Careful, it's hot."

…

"It's not _that_ hot! Just drink it already!" The monster said with mild annoyance. The two humans sipped from their tea. Frisk liked hers, and AJ wasn't surprised to find he didn't like tea. Besides that though, they felt like they had drank lava, and it took all their strength to not cry out in pain. Undyne seemed too focused to notice their eyes watering. The older one swished the tea in his mouth in the hopes that it would be more bearable while it cooled down. The younger human made the mistake of swallowing it immediately, so she had to deal with the pain of basically lava flowing down her throat. She had to resist clutching her chest in pain. They both had the magic in them to thank for their strength, not to mention how much worse the pain could have been without the magic in them.

"It's pretty good, huh?" Undyne asked, and they both nodded with strained looks that she failed to notice. "Nothing but the best for my _absolutely precious friends!"_ She said with an even bigger and even more forced smile. Thankfully, something that hot won't stay hot long against room temperature, so it quickly became more bearable as time went on. Didn't change the flavor though for the teen.

"Hey, y'know, it's funny that all I had was _that_ tea for you. Golden Flower Tea is Asgore's favorite kind!" Undyne commented. "Actually, now that I think about it…" She turned to the kid. "You kind of remind me of Asgore. You're both total weenies!" She laughed. "Well… sort of." She looked down and let out a sad sigh. She seemed to be remembering something. "Y'know, I was a pretty hotheaded kid. Once, to prove I was the strongest, I tried to fight the king. Emphasis on _tried._ I couldn't land a single blow on him!" The humans couldn't help but notice she wasn't faking her emotions right now, and they smiled a bit. "Worst part is, the whole time, he _refused_ to fight back! I was so humiliated… Afterwards, he apologized and said something goofy. 'Excuse me, do you want to know how to beat me?' I said yes, and from then on, he trained me!

One day, during practice, I finally knocked him down. I felt… bad. But, he was beaming! I'd never seen someone more proud to get their butt kicked! Anyway, long story short, he kept training me… and now I'm the head of the Royal Guard. So _I'm_ the one who gets to train dorks to fight! Like… Papyrus…" She sighed. "To be honest… I don't think I can ever let him into the Royal Guard. Don't tell him I said that! He's just… well… I mean it's not like he's weak! He's actually pretty freaking tough! It's just that… he's… he's to innocent and nice! I mean, look, he was supposed to capture humans like you two! Instead, he ended up friends with you!? I could never let him into battle! He'd get ripped into little smiling shreds…

That's part of why I decided to start teaching him how to cook, you know? So, um, maybe he can do something else with his life." Undyne seemed to focus now that she was done with her story, and she noticed they had no more tea in their cups. "Oh, sorry, I was talking for so long, wasn't I?" She said sheepishly. "You both drank all you're tea… Well, I'll go get some more." She said before standing up and walking towards the kitchen. She suddenly stopped and turned to them. "Wait a second. Papyrus… his cooking lesson. HE WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE THAT RIGHT NOW!" She realized. "And if he's not here to have it… You'll both just have to have it for him instead!"

"Wait, what?" The older human asked.

(The music's back)

Undyne jumped into the air, landing next to the sink and stove, and began kicking everything onto the ground. "That's right! _Nothing_ has brought Papyrus and I closer than cooking! Which means that if I give the lesson to you two… WE'LL BECOME CLOSER THAN YOU CAN EVER IMAGINE!" She shouted passionately before letting out an evil laugh. "Afraid!? We're gonna be best friends!" She jumped and landed behind the humans before grabbing them by their hoods and jumping back over to the kitchen area.

"Agh! I don't know how to cook!" AJ pointed out as Undyne let go of them.

"Well time to learn, punk, cause we got sauce to make!" The fish warrior said before stomping the ground, causing everything to shake and vegetables to fall out of nowhere and land in front of them. "Now, envision these vegetables as your greatest enemy! Pound them to dust with your fists!" She ordered.

"But why would I do that? They're so cute!" Frisk exclaimed as she picked up a tomato and pet it.

Undyne let out an annoyed growl before patting the other human on the back hard. "Come on! You can do better than her, right!?"

"Um…" 'There are better ways to do this! This is gonna make a mess!... Welp! I've been saying it a lot lately, why stop now?' "Screw it!" He said before bringing his fist down on another tomato like a hammer. He let out a disgusted noise at the feeling of the tomato getting all over him and his clothes. None of Undyne's passion was really carrying over to him, unfortunately.

"Yeah! Our hearts are uniting against these healthy ingredients! NOW IT'S MY TURN! NGAAAAHHHH!" The monster shouted before smashing all of the vegetables in one punch, making a massive mess. "Um… we'll just scrape this into a bowl later. But for NOW!?" She stomped again, and a pot and a box of noodles fell onto the stove top. The trio relocated, as in Undyne dragged them along while Frisk held her tomato tightly. "We add the noodles! Homemade noodles are the best! But I just by store-brand, they're the cheapest! NGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Undyne realized she was passionately screaming for no reason. "Uh… just put them in the pot."

Frisk was too short to reach them, so it was up to the taller human to put in the noodles. He managed to rip open the box and pour the noodles in.

"Alright! Now, it's time to stir the pasta. As a general rule of thumb, the more you stir THE BETTER IT IS! Ready!? Let's do this!" Undyne shouted.

Not wanting to be left out, Frisk jumped up on top of the table and yanked the spoon away from her fellow human to stir as hard as she could. "Harder!" Undyne cheered, and her passion fueled the girl to stir faster. "HARDER!" Frisk tried with all her might to stir. " _HARDER!_ " The girl could not physically stir any faster. "Ugh! Let me do it!" The monster woman said before shoving the girl out of the way and creating a spear which she used to repeatedly stab the pot as hard as she could until the pot was nearly shredded to pieces. "HAHAHAH! That's the stuff! Alright, now for the final step: TURN UP THE HEAT! Let the stovetop symbolize your passion! Let your hopes and dreams turn into burning fire! READY!? DON'T HOLD ANYTHING BACK!"

With a speech like that, even the teen couldn't help but feel inspired and passionate. Both humans began alternating spinning the dial as fast as possible, making the flames hotter, brighter, bigger. The flames quickly engulfed the pot as Undyne cheered them on. "HOTTER! HOTTER! HOTTER! _HOTTER!_ Wait, that's too-"

*BOOM!*

A few seconds later, the three of them stood up in the middle of the room after being blown back from the exploding stove. The entire building was on fire, but despite being a fish, Undyne didn't seem to mind.

"Ah! Man, no wonder Papyrus sucks at cooking." Undyne commented casually and wiped the soot off her face. She waited a moment while the humans coughed and blew away some smoke that flew near them. "So, what's next? Scrapbooking? Friendship bracelets?"

Frisk gasped. "Friendship bracelets!" She said with stars in her eyes.

'Would I be asking too much if I said we should leave the burning house first?'

Undyne frowned. "Oh who am I kidding? I really screwed this up, didn't I?"

"What are you talking about?" AJ asked.

"I can't force you two to like me. Some people just don't get along with each other."

"I thought we were getting along just fine!" Frisk said.

"Yeah!" Her fellow human agreed.

"No, it's okay, humans. I understand how you feel about me, really, it's okay. Because… if we can't be friends… IT MEANS I CAN DESTORY YOU BOTH WITHOUT REGRET!" Undyne shouted. "I've been humiliated, my house is in shambles, I even failed to befriend you humans. That's it, I don't care if you're my guests anymore! One final match, all out on both sides! It's the only way I can regain my lost pride!"

*CRASH* The door shattered into pieces as Undyne tackled the older human to the ground. She immediately threw punches at the one she had pinned down, but he tilted his head to dodge two swings before catching the third punch in his hand and kicking Undyne off of him. Frisk ran out of the building, but she had to jump out of the way as Undyne flew into the wall next to her. The teen was quick to charge and throw a punch, but Undyne jumped to the side and let AJ punch the house instead. The human didn't let up and quickly tackled Undyne to the ground and tried to wail on her as well.

"STOP IT, BOTH OF YOU!" The child cried out before grabbing her friend by his cloak and throwing him off of the monster. Undyne looked surprised for a moment before jumping up to attack the boy again, but Frisk was in her way. The girl panicked and pulled out her trusty stick as she screamed and swung at the woman. She hit the fish in the leg, and she stopped.

"What." Was all Undyne could say. "You… you looked like you swung as hard as you could… Is that really the best this kid can do?" She asked her opponent, who shrugged with a confused look. "You can't muster any intent to hurt me? Even when I'm a threat to you and your friend?..." Undyne seemed pacified and she let out a sigh. "You know what? I don't really want to kill you two either… You both don't seem that bad, and it's been kind of fun fighting AJ, but also… the way you hit me just now, Frisk… It, it reminded me of someone I used to train with." She said, looking in the distance in thought. She eventually chuckled before looking back at the girl. "I guess I was wrong, kid. You aren't just some wimpy loser, you're a wimpy loser with a big heart!" She said with a smile that the girl gladly returned.

Undyne looked to the other human. "You know, now that I think about it, I really have no reason to care about that dumb relic." She commented. "We've always been told it's the most important thing we have and is treated like a religious artifact, but honestly, we've stopped doing much with it lately. I think… I think I just got angry that you touched it because I felt like I _should_ get angry about it, since it's really important to us. But, really, that dumb rock hasn't done anything for us in a long time! So yeah! I don't care about that anymore!"

"So… we're really friends now?" The teen asked cautiously.

The monster looked up at him and nodded. "You bet, punk!"

He sighed as he was finally able to relax and smile. He couldn't believe that this had actually worked out, that they had actually made friends with someone who just spent so long trying to kill them.

"Hey, listen, humans." Undyne said with a frown. "You two made it past me, so… I think you and Asgore are destined to fight. But knowing him… he probably doesn't want to. Don't be afraid, just talk to him, will you? I'm sure you can persuade him to let you go home. Eventually, some mean human will fall down here, so I'll just take their soul instead."

"You know, I actually thought about saying that! I thought you wouldn't listen to me, though!" AJ commented, and Undyne chuckled.

"Yeah, before now, I don't think I would've listened." She responded. "Hey, one more important thing, humans. If you _do_ hurt Asgore… I'll take the human souls, cross the barrier, and _beat the hell out of you both_." She threatened before grinning. "That's what friends are for, right? Hehe." She looked to her house, which was crying since it was on fire and all that. "Well, I think I'm gonna go hang out at Papyrus's place for now. If you need me, come visit Snowdin, or just call Papyrus, cause I'll be close enough to answer!"

"Well, bye Undyne." The older human waved.

"Bye!" The younger one waved.

"See ya, punks!" The monster waved before jogging away.

The humans both sighed in relief and smiled. "Well, glad that's over." AJ commented.

"I'm glad that worked out!" Frisk commented.

"Yeah, me too. I didn't think that would end well, but it did, somehow." He said before they started walking away from the burning house. "Time to continue our journey. Back to that river person."

She hummed in agreement as they walked through the tranquil area and back down the hall. "We're still our _real_ besties, right?" She asked.

"Hehe, yep." He nodded.

They found The Riverwoman waiting for them and they took their ride back to what the figure called "Hotland." A fitting if unoriginal name. They left the boat, waved goodbye to the Riverman, and pulled their hoods back up when they saw the lava below them once again.

"Hey, AJ?" The girl started. "I've been thinking… I still want to find a home for us, but I really want to do something…"

"And that something is?" He asked.

She jumped in front of him and smiled up at him with determination in her eyes. "I want to free the monsters!"

That certainly surprised him, but the full repercussions of such a feat didn't hit him at the time. "How?" He asked. "There's supposedly a magic barrier in the way. What could we possibly do!?"

"Well they have six souls don't they? And they just need one more, right? Well the two of us could help them! Eight souls could totally bring it down!" She said enthusiastically. "We could just tell Asgore we want to help, and all our souls together would free the monsters!"

"Well, I like that idea, but…" A fraction of the repercussions finally came to his mind. "A-Are you sure we should do that? I think the monsters might be better off down here."

"But they're totally trapped down here!" She pointed out.

"Yes, I know that! But… I really think that they might be safer down here than on the surface with humans." He said.

"Well we won't know that till we find out. Either way, we gotta keep going!" She said before holding out her hand.

He sighed. "Well, that's true at least." He agreed. He knew there was no point arguing with her about this right now. The only option now was to go forwards… into the ominous looking lab building.

"I bet we will be able to free monsters, you know why? Because we have DETERMINATION!" Frisk cheered.

* * *

 **Hey, I actually kind of had fun writing this chapter! Cool! :D**

 **Hope you enjoyed too, and I hope you had a great week!**


	18. Mettaton

**Here we are.**

 **The arc of survival.**

 **AKA The 'Local Robot Ruins Everything' Arc.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.18

* * *

The humans saw what looked like an elevator to their left, a nice option that seemed much better than the lab. Only, there were two really large figures in armor silently standing in front of the elevator door, so they decided to keep walking. The doors opened automatically and they entered the building, only to find it was really dark and they could barely see anything. They walked further into the darkness, only to have a bright light turn on to their left. A massive screen hung above them, showing a live footage of them standing in the room. They turned around to find the camera, but still couldn't in the darkness.

"Someone's watching us?" Frisk said.

Suddenly, all the lights turned on at once, blinding the humans. When their vision finally cleared up, they noticed a small lizard like monster in a lab coat approaching them, only to notice their presence. "Oh. My god! I didn't expect you two to show up so soon! I haven't showered, I'm barely dressed, the lab's a mess, and… and…" The female sounding monster realized they were freaking out in front of their guests and adjusted their glasses while attempting to calm down. "Umm… H-H-Hiya!" They waved with a smile. "I'm Dr. Alphys. I'm Asgore's Royal Scientist!"

"Well hi there." AJ greeted.

"Hi!" Frisk greeted with a friendly wave of her own.

"I know who you two are! Oh! B-But don't worry! I'm not one of the 'bad guys'. I've just um… been observing your journey ever since you stepped out of the ruins!" Alphys explained. "The fighting, the friendship, all of it! I was going to stop you, you know, cause that's what I'm supposed to do. But… watching someone on a screen really makes you root for them, you know? S-So, uh, now I want to help you both! With my knowledge, I can easily guide you through Hotland. I know a way right to Asgore's castle, no problem!"

She suddenly looked hesitant. "Well… actually, there is one small problem. A long time ago, I made a robot named Mettaton. Originally, I built him to be an entertainment robot. Uh, you know, like a robotic TV star or something. Anyway, recently I decided to make him more useful. Just, you know, some small practical adjustments. Like, um… anti… anti-human combat features?" She hesitantly said, and the older human gave her a disappointed glare. "Of c-course, when I saw you two, I realized, I have to remove those features! Unfortunately, I may have made a teensy mistake while doing so. And, um…" She started sweating. "Now he's an unstoppable killing machine with a thirst for human blood? Ehehehehehe… Heh." She shook her head. "But it's okay, we probably won't run into him."

The teen facepalmed. "Of course, if we have someone helping us, there has to be someone trying to kill us even more." Everyone paused when the ground shook a bit. They looked around and at each other, confirming they weren't just feeling things. Then the ground shook again, more clearly this time.

"Did you hear something?" Alphys asked, confused.

"I _felt_ something." AJ responded.

The ground continued to shake, and it became very clear that something was banging against the nearby wall. Alphys and the humans looked worried. """Oh no…"""

A loud bang shattered the wall, scattering dust and debris everywhere and blocking their vision. "OHHH YES!" A robotic voice echoed around them. "Welcome, beauties…" A sudden gust of wind cleared their vision, and the robot was revealed to them under a spotlight. "To today's Quiz Show!"

A massive calculator with arms, rolling on a single wheel…

Suddenly, a cheering crowd that didn't exist could be heard, and disco balls and a bright and colorful sign saying "GAME SHOW" appeared from above. "Oh boy! I can already tell it's gonna been a great show!" Mettaton announced. "Everyone give a big hand for our wonderful contestants!" He requested before he and the non-existent crowd clapped as random colorful confetti fell on the pair of humans, who could only look around in confusion. "Never played before darlings? No problem! It's simple! There's only one rule! Answer correctly… OR YOU DIE!"

A pedestal with four big red buttons on it suddenly stuck up out of the ground in front of the humans while Mettaton moved into the foreground between Alphys and the humans.

"Whoa! Okay! This is all happening way too fast!" AJ exclaimed.

"Let's just play along, I'm sure we'll be fine." Frisk said, though she couldn't completely hide her worry.

"Well, not like we have much choice." The boy noted.

"Let's start with an easy one!" Mettaton said before looking down at the piece of paper in his hand. "What's the prize for answering correctly?" The four answers appeared on the screen that once showed the live footage of them.

[A] Money [B] Mercy [C] New Car [D] More Questions

"Well, this one's pretty obvious." The teen deadpanned and hit the last button.

"Right! Sounds like you get it!" Mettaton congratulated along with the pleasant sound effects, cheering, and confetti. "Here's your terrific prize! What's the king's full name?"

[A] Lord Fluffybuns [B] Fuzzy Pushover [C] Asgore Dreemurr [D] Dr. Friendship

"Oh! I got this one!" Frisk exclaimed before hitting the button closest to her. C.

"Correct! What a terrific answer!" Mettaton congratulated. "But enough about you, let's talk about me! What are robots made of?"

[A] Hopes&Dreams [B] Metal&Magic [C]Snips&Snails [D] Sugar&Spice

"I _wish_ he was just made of nice hopes and dreams." AJ commented before hitting B.

"Too easy for you two, huh?" Mettaton said. "Here's another easy one for you then!" Then a massive wall of text appeared on the screen and Mettaton started to read it all. "Two trains, Train A and Train B, simultaneously depart Station A and-"

The humans immediately gave up on readying that and looked to guess at the choices they had. They only had thirty seconds after all.

[A] 31.054 minutes [B] 16.232 minutes [C] 32.049 minutes [D] 32.058 minutes

Frisk tapped her fellow human's leg. "Look." She whispered. He looked up and saw Alphys not so inconspicuously holding a sign from behind Mettaton that said "D". They had little choice but to trust her.

"WONDERFUL! I'm astounded, folks!" Mettaton exclaimed in surprise. "But don't _count_ on your victory just yet! How many flies are in this jar?" The screen changed to show a simulated jar filled with flies. They already saw Alphys giving them their answer.

[A] 54 [B] 53 [C] 55 [D] 52

It was apparently A.

"Correct! You're so lucky today!" Mettaton exclaimed. "Now let's play Memory Game! What monster is this?" The screen showed a partial image of a frog monster.

[A] Froggit [B] Whimsun [C] Moldsmal [D] Mettaton

"Easy!" The boy said before hitting A. He cried out in pain when hitting A got him zapped so hard he fell to his knees.

"Boy! That was embarrassing, huh?" Mettaton commented with a robotic chuckle as the screen revealed Mettaton wearing a shirt with a picture of Froggit on it.

"Are you okay!?" Frisk cried out. He was in too much pain and too busy recovering his breath to do anything but stare at his largely cracked red soul.

'Cheating bastard!'

"Don't lose focus, gorgeous!" Mettaton said. "Or else you won't get this one! Would you smooch a ghost?"

[A] Heck Yeah  
[B] Heck Yeah  
[C] Heck Yeah  
[D] Heck Yeah  
[E] Heck Yeah

"Umm…" Frisk looked at the buttons and the answers with a confused look. Even Alphys looked confused. She decided on hitting B.

"GREAT ANSWER! I LOVE IT!" Mettaton shouted. "Here's a simple one! How many letters in the name Mettaton." She thought this one was easy and went to answer it, only for the robot to suddenly start adding N's to the word endlessly, with all the answers changing constantly. She looked to Alphys for assistance, and the lizard somehow had an answer for her. C. "Of course that was easy for you!"

The girl's friend finally pulled himself back up. "Are you okay?" The girl asked again, full of concern.

"I'm gonna kill that stupid robot…" AJ growled out, and it didn't sound like he was exaggerating.

"Time to break out the big guns!" Mettaton said. "In the dating simulation video game 'Mew Mew Kissy Cutie' with is Mew Mew's favorite food?"

"Oh! Oh! I KNOW THIS ONE!" Alphys suddenly shouted enthusiastically. "IT'S SNAIL ICE CREAM! IN THE FOURTH CHAPTER EVERYONE GOES TO THE BEACH AND SHE BUYS ICE CREAM FOR ALL OF HER FRIENDS BUT ITS SNAIL FLAVOR AND SHE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO WANTS IT ITS ONE OF MY FAVORITE PARTS OF THE GAME BECAUSE ITS ACTUALLY A VERY POWERFUL MESSAGE about… friendship… and…" She finally realized she was talking this whole time, and that Mettaton can hear that.

"Alphys, Alphys, Alphys… You aren't helping our contestant, are you?" Mettaton asked, and the doctor smiled awkwardly while shaking her head. "Ooooooh! You should have told me! I'll ask a question… _you'll be sure to know the answer to._ Who does Doctor Alphys have a crush on?"

[A] Undyne [B] Asgore [C] The Tall Human [D] The Short Human

Frisk's cheeks puffed up at being called short.

"Um… I'm gonna hope it's not us, but assume that it's not the obvious." The older human said before putting his hand over A. He mouthed out 'sorry' to Alphys in case he was right before pressing the button.

The monster blushing massively and hiding her face let him know he was unfortunately right and had just horribly embarrassed the doc.

"See, Alphys? I told you it was obvious." Mettaton teased. "Even the humans figured it out. Yes, she scrawls her name in the margins of her notes. She names programing variables after her. She even writes stories of them together… sharing a domestic life. Probability of crush: 101 percent. Margin of error: 1 percent." The robot then threw his papers into the air. "Well! With Dr. Alphys helping you two, the show has no dramatic tension! We can't go on like this! But! BUT! This was just the pilot episode!

Next up…

More drama!

More romance!

More BLOODSHED!

Until next time, darlings!" Mettaton said before suddenly gaining the ability to fly and using it to rocket out of the lab.

…

"Well that was certainly something." Alphys commented.

"YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN!" AJ exclaimed. "I mean we've seen some stuff in the Underground, but _WOW_ that robot was something!"

"Yeah, he's uh… he's an interesting character." Alphys said.

The teen helped himself to another cinna-bun, and Frisk decided she was hungry and had one as well. "Alright, so, you're gonna guide us through the Hotlands now?" He asked.

"Hotland, and yes." The monster answered. "Though I won't be there with you. I'll just be, uh, calling you from time to time while I watch you through my cameras."

"Well I have a phone. Do you need my number?" The child asked.

Alphys blinked as she stared at the phone. "Uh, yeah, but that phone is ancient! Can you please let me have it for a minute? I've just got to upgrade that thing!"

"Uh, sure!" Frisk answered and handed the phone to the lizard, who walked away to the upper area of the lab which they couldn't see. Many worrying noises later, and Alphys was back with a much more modern looking phone. Still looked old though.

"Here you go! Now your phone's got texting, item portals… it even has a keychain!" Alphys explained. "Oh! And I also signed you up for the Underground's number one social network. Now we're officially friends! Hehehe! Hehehe… hehe…" And then she just stood there as if things were really awkward, when they weren't. "I'm going to the bathroom." She said before scurrying away and closing the door to another room before they could say anything.

"Well then." AJ commented awkwardly.

"I guess we can keep moving now!" Frisk said before walking forward towards the exit to the lab building. "Bye, Alphys!"

* * *

They left the building and were assaulted by the heat once again. "Hey, wait, what did she say about portals?" The older human asked.

"Um, let me see." The girl said before pressing the ITEMS button on the phone. Suddenly, a small portal appeared just within arm's reach of her.

""Whoa!..."" They both said in awe.

"Okay fine magic is awesome I admit and accept this with no more complaints about logic." He said to no one in particular.

"Is there anything in there?" She asked and put her hand in the portal. She felt around and found nothing. "Nope. Guess not."

"Well that will be great if we ever find items that we can't carry." AJ commented before they walked further into the land of lava. Suddenly, the girl's phone made a noise as if she had gotten a message. She opened it up and saw that Alphys had apparently updated her status. It must have been a message from that social site.

"I just realized I didn't watch Undyne fight the humans yet. V.V" They didn't get to walk much further before they heard another update. "Well, I know she's unbeatable, I'll ask her abt it later."

The older human whined. "You're a doctor, why do you have to type like that?" He complained.

UPDATE: "For now I gotta call up the humans and guide them =^."

"I don't even know what the faces she's making are!" He complained.

"Me neither." Frisk admitted.

The brown-haired duo stopped walking for a moment when they noticed the path split. There were two conveyer belts moving along the split paths, with one going the way they want to go and one going the opposite way. Also, there were metal pipes coming out from the depths below, releasing jets of fire occasionally. But that was just one detail, one piece of machinery amongst the countless other machines around them doing countless different jobs. They stepped onto the conveyer that went along with them, and soon came to the end of it.

They stepped off, only to see a monster approach them. The monster was about Frisk's height, and looked like a mini-volcano with an adorable looking face. "My lava heals people." It said. One of the clouds coming out of its top suddenly became like a thundercloud and shot lighting down at the humans. They jumped out of the way and the girl quickly tried to get past this fight.

"Um… I'm sure it does, little guy! You're doing a great job with that, keep it up!" She cheered, and the Vulkin smiled brightly.

"Thank you!" It said before walking away.

The older human sighed in relief. "Geez, I'm expecting all monsters to be like Undyne now. I'm forgetting how this works, she was like a boss or something. The rest are easy…er."

"Yep! And I even know just what to do with some of them!" Frisk said before her phone went off again.

"This is going to become a common thing, isn't it? Cause I can't help but feel like it will." AJ deadpanned.

UPDATE: "Gonna call them in a minute! =^.^="

"Well as least I can recognize _that_ face."

"It's a kitty! Like you!" She said cheerfully.

He made no comment on that and they went along some more conveyers and carefully walked across a bridge made of pipes to the next bit of solid ground. The sound of steam and cogs and other machinery filled the air along with the bubbling lava below them. "Determination!" Frisk cheered randomly, once again.

UPDATE: "I HATE USING THE PHONE I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS LMAO ^.^"

"Glad we get all these useless updates." The teen expressed his annoyance with the constantly sounding phone.

"Some people like to post a lot." Frisk figured.

They walked up to a dead end. There was no bridge or conveyer belts, no switch or button to press. There weren't even any walls, they were constantly in danger of falling! The only thing that was noteworthy was a metal plate on the floor that seemed to be attached to a hinge. Just before either human could vocally note the empty area, the metal plate started rumbling. They turned to it, and steam suddenly erupted from under the plate, pushing it up with incredible force. The only reason the plate didn't fly away was the hinge.

"Oh! It's a jump pad! Kind of…" The boy realized and they both walked over to the plate. "We have to use this to fly us over to the other side." That meant flying over lava, which was not a pleasant thought for him, but they didn't have much choice. "I-I'll go first." He said with a pinch of fear in his voice.

"You don't have to be so brave for me. Let's just go together!" She suggested.

"Um… alright, fine. Hop on." He requested and the girl hopped onto his back before he stepped on the plate. "Alright… here we-" He was cut off when the plate threw them a second earlier than he thought it would.

""AAAAAHHHH!"" The sudden thrust upwards and forwards was terrifying, and the lava didn't help, but they made it to the other side without dying. Now on a slightly higher elevation, they could see that many more areas where steam was being released were all around them on other disconnected points of rock nearby. Seeing no point in getting down, Frisk kept her grip around his neck tight while they found which way they had to go. They noticed a way out of this area and stepped on the plate that would take them in that direction, and they screamed some more when they were sent flying again, and then once more.

Then they finally checked the message they had gotten about another update. "omg ive had my claw over the last digit for 5 minutes. omg I'm just gonna do it, I'm just gonna call!"

"Still waiting on that call!" He commented, hoping whatever cameras were nearby could hear him. "Do you think she's ever gonna call?"

"Uh… maybe?" She answered, admittedly unsure.

Finally the phone rang. Then it clicked. The older human groaned while the younger one laughed at his reaction. They entered the next area and quickly came across even more machinery than usual, including lasers, literally lasers. Blue and orange lasers.

"Blue stop signs?" Frisk commented.

"Are the orange ones GO signs then?" AJ asked, confused.

The girl's phone rang again, and Alphys actually answered this time. "Uhh… H-Hi! So, the blue lasers… Oh, I mean, um… A-Alphys, here! The blue lasers won't hurt you if you don't move! O-Orange ones, um… Y-You have to be moving, and they… Um, they won't, um… Move through those ones!" She suddenly hung up.

"Wow, that poor thing is a mess on the phone." The teen commented.

"I used to be pretty bad on phones, too." The younger human admitted.

"My only problem was I didn't know when to hang up and just got stuck was awkward silence cause neither of us would say bye and hang up." He responded before they walked towards the large lasers directly in their path.

UPDATE: "OH MY GOD I DID IT! Claws haven't shook like that since Undyne called me to ask about the weather. V.V"

They could jump over these lasers, but it was probably a good idea to get used to what these lasers held in store for them, as they knew for sure they would see more of them later. The first laser was orange, and walking through it proved painless. The second laser was also orange, so they got past that as well. The next-

UPDATE: "WAIT THERE'S NO WEATHER DOWN HERE WHY DID SHE CALL ME"

Ahem! The next laser was a moving blue laser, so they were only able to walk half way before having to stop to let the laser pass through them. Then, they quickly ran forward past the point where it moved so they wouldn't get hit. The next two were orange and then blue, and they got through just fine. The last two were blues that were moving through each other's paths. "Screw that." The older human said before simply jumping over that pair of lasers and the orange behind it before hitting a button on a nearby metal pillar, turning the lasers off for his fellow human.

"Oh, thank you! You didn't play fairly, but thank you." Frisk said as she caught up with him.

"I'm not playing fairly for a puzzle that no one is watching over. Not worth getting hurt." He basically repeated himself.

They continued along another bridge made of pipes and came across a miniature jet plane. "Uh… hi." AJ greeted, surprised by the sight of such a monster. It wasn't just an inanimate object, but it was a complex manmade one, and he found it really strange that a monster with such a form existed. The monster flew in place in their path for a moment, before suddenly doing a spinning flip and sending out a wave of fire towards him. "Agh!" He ducked under the wave that was thankfully aimed high before jumping back up to a stand. "Hey! Watch it!" He shouted angrily before trying to slash the monster with his machete.

The monster flew around his weapon with an indignant cry before flying into the air. "Fine! If you don't want me around, I'll just leave! I didn't want to be around you anyway, baka!" The airplane said before flying away.

The boy blinked twice. "Did it just say… WHO SAYS THAT!?" He shouted up at the plane with arms up above his head. "What are you, tsunde-" He stopped and froze for a second. Suddenly, he fell over and wheezed with laughter. "I-I-I-I get it n-now!" He managed to say. After some time laughing he managed to say "I-It's a Tsunderplane, right?! THAT IS AMAZING!"

Now that he finally said it out loud, Frisk understood and fell over laughing as well. Eventually the humans recovered and stood up again. "Well, that's much better than the name I gave it!" She commented with one last chuckle. Her phone went off again.

"Oh My God i Forgot to Tell Them Where To Go!" Alphys posted. The humans honestly didn't find the one direction they had to go hard to figure out. They got to walk two steps before there was another update. "CUte PIC OF ME RIGHT NOW ^.^" Along with that was a picture of a trash can with what seemed to be many, many pink and glittery filters.

"I get the symbolism here." The older human commented. Frisk looked confused, but he kept walking rather than elaborating on that, so she simply kept up.

The humans soon came across some more steam vents. One was on the rock platform they were on, the others were on the three surrounding them. The one straight ahead led to a large closed door that was likely blocking their path and wasn't just left unlocked. The girl's phone went off, but this time it was Alphys calling them. "A-A-Alphys here! Th… the northern door will stay locked until you s-solve the puzzles on the right and left. I… I think you sh-should g-g-go to the right first!"

"Well thanks for the tip!" The teen said before sighing because the monster had already hung up. "Alright then, to the right!" He announced dramatically before walking over to the steam vent as it vented more steam. He motioned for the girl to climb up onto his back again, so she did before he hopped onto the plate. They were soon sent flying up onto the elevated platform, and walked forward a short distance before coming across a few monsters sitting at the edge to their right and a doorway to their left.

UPDATE: "Wonder if it would be unfun if I explained the puzzle to them."

"Quick! Figure out the puzzle before she ruins it for you!" AJ requested and the girl ran in quickly. The room was large, but only a small portion of it could be walking in. The rest was a large area filled with metal boxes inside one large box, and that whole area was behind glass. On the glass was a screen that gave them an overhead view of what was in the blocked off room.

Frisk was quick to start moving the joystick in front of the screen, and a few of the boxes inside the box started moving. "What's that say?" She asked, pointing to the nearby piece of paper while she kept her focus on the screen. She seemed quite excited to do the puzzle.

"It says 'Shoot the opposing ship! Move the boxes to complete your mission.' Oh, those arrows are ships." The boy realized as he looked at her screen and what was actually going on in the room. The child messed around with the puzzle for nearly a minute. "Wait, you can't make it so both boxes are out of your way." He realized.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yep. There's not enough room." He answered.

"But you aren't even doing it!" She pointed out.

"I do nothing but play video games! Believe me, I can figure out how things work by watching others play." He countered. "Just try shooting when only one is in the way."

"Okay." … "It worked!"

"Heh, yep, I thought that might be it."

"I didn't know you could just shoot the boxes first!" She exclaimed.

"Me neither. Now let's get the other puzzle over with!"

The humans left the room and jumped back onto the center area before taking the steam vent up to the left side. But the moment they got up, they saw an obstacle in their way. A wall of blue lasers that were conveniently too high for them to jump over.

"Well that's a problem." AJ commented.

"Yeah, what now?" Frisk asked before they got a call from Alphys.

"Alphys here! Th-that blue laser is totally impassable, huh? B-But, I'm the Royal Scientist! I'm sure I can j-just hack into th-the Hotland laser database in th-that area!" The lizard said, although she wasn't exactly full of confidence. Regardless of her confidence, the lasers soon disappeared.

"Thanks, Alphys!" The younger human said, and the monster sputtered before hanging up.

They walked past the lasers and walked up to the door to the other puzzle room. They noticed two monsters that seemed to be wearing school outfits step out of the room just before they entered. One of them looked a lot like a younger, female Grillby. "Finally! Someone turned off that laser!" They exclaimed with relief. "Now that we're free we can, well, I guess we'll just keep hanging out here."

The other monster had purple skin, a backwards red hat, and a skateboard. "Are you the ones that fixed the laser?" They asked, but kept talking before the humans could answer. "We were just hanging out when suddenly, a buncha puzzles reactivated out of nowhere. That's a huge problem, but it rules! They've _gotta_ cancel school over this!" They cheered, and the humans chuckled before walking into the other puzzle room.

"You wanna do this one?" The girl asked.

"Nah it's okay, you can just-" He paused. "Yeah okay fine I'll do it." He decided and stepped up to the screen. He moved the boxes in every different direction for a few seconds before saying "Oops." when he realized he had it for a second. He fixed it and shot the one box before shooting the 'ship'. "Alright!" He cheered.

"Good job!" Frisk cheered as well.

"Honestly, monsters need to make harder puzzles." The boy commented.

"You only got it by accident." She pointed out with a smirk as they left the room.

"Still got it. That's what matters." He said with a shrug and a smirk before they jumped down to the middle area once again. They stepped on the plate and landed before the massive door, which split open slowly to allow them passage.

* * *

They entered the next room when Alphys posted once again. "whatever! I'll just explain it!" She posted before calling them. "Uhhh, I think…"

"Don't bother, Alphys. We already completed the puzzles." AJ said with a smirk.

"Y-You already solved them!? A-Awesome!" Alphys said awkwardly before hanging up.

"…Should I not have said that or something?" The older human asked, and his friend shrugged with a concerned look.

They walked along and turned right to see three pillars across a large terrifying gap. Thankfully, all the pillars were steam vents, so the humans could make it across. Though they spent their time crossing in sheer terror as they were flung repeatedly by the steam. They needed to stop for a minute to relax when they got to the other side. After calming each other down, they entered the next room, only to find pitch blackness.

"Hello darkness, my old friend." AJ said into the nothingness and chuckled.

Frisk's phone rang. "H-hey, I can't see anything through the cameras in there!" Alphys realized. "Oh! Th-The lights are off in there! H-Hang on…"

The light came back on, and once the humans regained their vision, they realized they were standing in a full on cooking show set. """Oh no.""" Said the trio.

*THUD* A big calculator with arms landed next to them. "OHHHH YES!" He announced, and pulled a chef's hat out of nowhere before putting it on. "Wecome, beauties, to the underground's premier cooking show!

 _COOKING WITH A KILLER ROBOT!_

Pre-heat your ovens, because we've got a very recipe for you today! We're going to be making… a cake! My lovely assistants here will gather the ingredients." The robot said, pointing at the two humans. "Everyone give them a big hand!" He requested, and the non-existent crowd clapped and cheered as confetti fell on the humans, who shook their heads to get the pieces of colored paper out of their hair. "We'll need sugar, milk, and eggs. Go for it, darlings!"

The taller human sighed. "Play along?" He deadpanned.

"Play along." The girl agreed.

The humans went to the opposite side of the kitchen and retrieved the required items and brought them to the front table. "Perfect! Great job, you two!" Mettaton said. "We've got all the ingredients we need to bake the cake. Milk, sugar, eggs… oh my! Wait a magnificent moment! How could I forget!? We're missing the most important ingredient!" The robot abruptly pulled out a chainsaw. "A HUMAN SOUL!"

"GET BACK!" The boy ordered and shoved Frisk away without looking as he pulled out his blade.

Mettaton abruptly stopped when the sound of his phone became clear. "Hello? I'm kind of in the middle of something here."

"W-Wait a second!" Alphys said thought the speaker mode. "Couldn't you make a… Couldn't you use a… Couldn't you make a substitution in the recipe?"

Mettaton paused. "A substitution?" He asked, sounding confused. "You mean, use a different, non-human ingredient?... Why?" He asked.

"Uhh, what if someone's… Vegan?" Alphys asked, sounding like she had just pulled that thought out of a hat at this very moment.

"Vegan…" Mettaton repeated.

"Uh well I mean-"

"THAT'S A BRILLIANT IDEA, ALPHYS!" The robot exclaimed, throwing the chainsaw up into the air and letting it fall onto the stove in the background, smashing it to pieces for some reason. "Actually, I happen to have an option right here! MTT-Brand Always-Convenient Human-Soul-Flavor-Substitute! A can of which… is just over on that counter!" Mettaton said before pointing to the random counter off set that the humans had been wondering about. "Well, darlings? Why don't you go get it?" He suggested to the humans.

The humans jogged over to the counter, only for it to suddenly shoot up into the sky. The counter now stood on a ludicrously high tower of counters, with the can at the very top of it.

Mettaton scooted over. "By the way, our show runs on a strict schedule. If you can't get the can in the next minute, we'll just have to go back to the _original plan_! So, better start climbing, you two!"

The humans could only stare straight up at the tower. "I'm not sure I can climb that even with the help of magic…" AJ commented.

"Me either." Frisk commented as well.

The girl's phone rang once again. "Oh no! There's not enough time to climb that!" Alphys exclaimed. F-F-Fortunately, I have a plan. When I was upgrading your phone, I added a few… features. There, you should be able to see a huge button that says 'jetpack' now."

"Pardon!?" The older human asked, unsure if he heard that right.

Frisk hit the button, and her phone suddenly expanded into a jetpack. "WHOOOOA!" She exclaimed.

"You should have enough fuel to reach the top! Get going!" Alphys said.

"Sh-Should I use that thing instead?" AJ asked.

"Nope! There's no way I'm giving this up!" Frisk said before flying into the air.

"BE CAREFUL, YOU IDIOT!" The boy shouted as his fellow human flew away. He stood there and watched for a few seconds when an egg suddenly landed next to him. "Eh?" Then more eggs started to land around him. "AH! WHAT THE HELL!?" He just plain ran away from the tower when not only eggs, but flour and milk started to rain down as well. He watched from a far, safe distance as Mettaton tried to hit the flying child with the ingredients, but the girl skillfully dodged the barrage and made it to the top with seconds to spare.

"My my, it seems you've bested me." Mettaton realized. But only because you had the help of the 'brilliant' Doctor Alphys. Oh, I _loathe_ to think of what would have happened to you without her! Well, toodles!" He said before flying away.

A confused Frisk soon landed near the taller human. "Wait, what about the cake?" She asked.

Mettaton flew back over. "Oh yes! About the substitution… Haven't you ever seen a cooking show before?"

""No.""

"I already baked the cake ahead of time! So forget it!" The robot said before flying away again.

The humans turned to each other. "That's it!?" The older one asked. "He basically hints at hurting his creator, makes fun of cooking shows, and then leaves!? All because we found an excuse for him to not kill us for a cake!?" He asked before the girl's phone rang.

"Wow! We… we did it! We-We we really did it! Great job out there, team! W-Well uh, anyway, you best keep heading forward." Alphys said before hanging up before they could say anything.

The boy facepalmed. "I can't tell if that robot's letting this drag out for more shows or what." He deadpanned.

"Come on! Let's go!" She said.

"Yeah, right." He said and just tried to not think too much about what just happened and the motives of the weird robot trying to kill them.

They walked onward and soon noticed something to their left. Far out in the distance, on a pool of magma, was an ominous structure. A massive and complex structure of metal, taller than anything they had even seen. ""Whoa…"" The human said in awe.

Alphys called them. "What's that?" Frisk asked the moment she answered.

"T-That's the CORE. It's the source of all the power in the Underground. It converts geothermal energy into magical electricity by… Uhh, anyway, that's where you're going to. In the Core is an elevator leading directly to Asgore's castle. From there, you can go home." Alphys explained before hanging up.

The child stared at the massive structure in the distance, the place they needed to go if she was to free the monsters. "Determination!"

* * *

 **I'd say that's a good place to end it.**

 **I am SO glad I wrote most of this last week, because I haven't had the will to write this week.**

 **Hope your week has been better than mine!**

 **But hey, if there's one good thing I can say for certain this week, it's that this fanfic is now my most followed and favorited! Yay! :D AND WE'VE REACHED 10000 VIEWS!**

 **Have a better week than the last!**


	19. Hotland, Hotdogs, and Hot Water

**(Once again, a day late to get that extra 2000 words in)**

 **Alright we're really getting closer to the end of this much quicker than I would like. I CHANGED MY MIND. I DON'T WANT TO GET TO THE ENDING. I DON'T WANT THIS TO END.**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.19

* * *

The humans observed the CORE for awhile longer before deciding to move on. The path they were on quickly Dead Ended, but there was an elevator they could take. They walked into the elevator and found that there were not only multiple floors, but also a left and right side to each of those floors. They were on the right side of the first floor, and the only other button that was lit up was the left of the second floor.

"A sideways moving elevator… this is gonna feel weird." The teen commented before the doors to the elevator closed. "Oh geez."

"That does feel weird!" The girl exclaimed.

"I mean it's kind of like being in a car, but also not."

The doors soon opened after the elevator came to a stop. The hooded humans walked forward and noticed a small fire monster nearby. "Heh. I'm Heats Flamesman. Remember my name." Was all it said.

"…Will do." AJ said simply before turning to walk away. "Uh… Frisk?"

The child turned from the fire monster to see what her friend was looking at. He was looking at a familiar snow-covered sentry station with a familiar skeleton chilling out inside it.

"No way! Sans!?"

In the area around his station were two other monsters. One was one of the small volcano monsters, with a hotdog inside it, and the other was a some bird(?) creature holding onto a hotdog. "I love hotdogs." The monster commented to itself before taking a good look at the sentry station. "Hey, that's weird. There's snow on that guy's roof! Hmm, must be too lazy to clean it off."

Meanwhile, the humans walked up to the station and smiled at their friend. "Oh, hey guys!" Sans greeted upon noticing them. "What's up?"

"Eh, nothing much. The journey continues." The boy said casually.

"We made friends with Undyne!" The child exclaimed.

Sans raised a non-existent eye-brow in surprise. "Really? How'd you manage that?"

"A ridiculous cooking lesson and beating each other up." AJ answered.

Sans chuckled. "Sounds like an interesting story. Well, as long as everything worked out." He commented. "Hey, since your journey just so happened to take you through my neck of Hotland, you guys want some hot dogs?"

"Sure!" Frisk answered.

"Don't you still have some cinna-buns left?" The teen asked, only to see her throw a few cinna-buns and a piece of monster candy into a portal and smile at him.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She said, and he rolled his eyes with a humorous snort.

"Alright, fine then. It's more efficient that way anyway." He mumbled jokingly.

"It's 30 gold per hot dog." The skeleton said, and Frisk handed him many a coin that he had to count out. "Alright… that's three. Here you go." The skeleton handed them the three dogs, and the girl threw one into the portal while the humans stood at the station and ate the other two quietly. "Hey, kid, you mind if I play a little game to pass the time while you two eat?" He asked, and the girl nodded and hummed and affirmative. "Cool, thanks." The skeleton then suddenly placed a hot dog on her head, making her giggle.

This quickly escalated and the humans laughed more and more as the skeleton stacked five, seven, ten hotdogs on the child's head. Then the laughter turned into disbelief as that grew to fifteen, twenty, nearly thirty before Sans finally stopped. "Well, that was fun, and good practice. Thanks, Frisk."

"Wait, what are we gonna do about the hotdog tower now!?" AJ asked.

"Well that's your problem, not mine."

"But that's a total waste!"

"I got plenty more."

Frisk dared to take one step forward and the entire tower suddenly fell. "…Sorry…" She said hesitantly.

"It's no problem, kid. Like I said, I got plenty more." Sans said calmly, not at all angry with her.

"Okay. Well, we should probably get going." The girl said.

"Yeah, right. See ya later, Sans." AJ said and waved.

"Bye, Sans!" Frisk waved.

"See ya, buds." The monster lazily waved.

Happy and filled, the humans continued down their one path. They noticed this area was even more densely filled with metal than the lower level, with gears and other machinery surrounding the path. The girl's phone went off once again and they saw Alphys had posted a picture. "dinner with the girlfriend ;)" was the text attached to a picture of a catgirl figure next to a bowl of noodles.

"I really hope that was just a joke." Was the teen's comment to seeing such a sad post.

"I'm sure she-" Apparently Frisk gets notified if someone comments on the posts as well.

CoolSkeleton95 posted a picture in the comments. "ARE WE POSTING HOT 'PICS?' HERE IS ME AND MY COOL FRIEND!" The picture was Papyrus flexing in front of a mirror. He was wearing sunglasses and giant muscular biceps were pasted onto his arms.

What had the humans laughing out loud was the fact that his biceps were also wearing sunglasses.

Then Alphys responded to that. "LOL, CoolSkeleton95! …That's a joke, right?"

"This is Papyrus we're dealing with here, so…"

The teen didn't need to say more when Papyrus responded. "THE ONLY JOKE HERE IS HOW STRONG MY MUSCLES ARE."

That round of laughs nearly made the humans miss a side path. As if to remind them of the videogame likeness of the Underground, the side path was an instant dead end with nothing but an item on the ground. That item was a dirty apron. Frisk barely hesitated to put it on over her sweater before posing dramatically, her cloak flapping from the hot winds of the area.

"You look ridiculous!" The boy commented with a laugh.

She pouted. "I wanna keep it though."

"Frisk, its dirty, it doesn't fit with your sweater and cloak at all, and you don't need it. Put it back already." AJ requested.

"What, just leave it here?" She asked in disbelief.

"Yes! Maybe someone else will come by and want it." He figured. The girl opened her mouth to argue but seemed to be debating with herself as well. "Come on, the only reason to take it is simply because you want to take it. We have no use for it." She still looked uncertain. "Wearing that thing would probably just get in the way, and carrying it would take up space that could be used for food.

"I have a portal though!" She pointed out.

He threw his arms up. "Fine! Whatever! Take it if you really want to, but don't wear it! It really doesn't fit you right now."

"Yes! Thank you!" She cheered before opening a portal with her phone and throwing the apron in.

They continued once again and soon reached another split path. The path right had a conveyer belt going forwards with three buttons next to it, while the other had a conveyer belt going the opposite way. Past the belts was a literal force-field blocking their path. Alphys called them once again. "H…Hi…! It's Dr. Alphys. This p-puzzle is kinda… um… timing based. Y-You guys see those switches over there, right? You have to press all three of them within three seconds. There are two of you though, so if you go down the line one after the other, there's no way you can miss a button!"

"Alright then, easy enough." The boy commented.

"Thanks for the advice, Alphys!" Frisk thanked.

"O-Oh, r-really, i-i-it's nothing." The lizard stuttered.

The three humans crossed and the child hit the buttons easily. "Well, looks like she didn't need my help anyway!" AJ commented with a smirk.

"Good job! You can keep going now." Alphys said before hanging up. She then suddenly called again. "Actually, wait! Y-You two are gonna need my h-help with this next one. It's… well… you'll see in a moment."

Before they could enter the next room though, the sound of fire crackling suddenly sounded really close to them when it wasn't before. They turned around and saw a large length of coiled rope, which was on fire, floating near them. The mischievous flaming face floating in the fire made it clear this was a monster.

"Oh no! It's Pyrope! Watch out for his orange attacks and exploding fireballs!" Alphys warned the humans.

The monster chuckled before a fireball flew out of its body, forcing the humans to jump away from each other to avoid it as it hit the ground and exploded. Pyrope threw three more fireballs at the older human, and he jumped away repeatedly to avoid them. The monster then turned and focused on the smaller human, who showed no fear as she jumped at the orange attacks and expertly dodged the fireballs.

"W-Whoa! Frisk! What-… How are you doing that!?" The teen asked.

"I watched you!" The girl answered as she jumped to avoid one fireball before spinning in the air to dodge another.

"Th-That isn't a good-"

"AJ! You need to beat this monster while she distracts it!" Alphys spoke up through the phone that the girl was still holding.

"How!? I don't want to swing a sword at fire!" He complained.

"You need to press the three buttons again!" The monster answered.

"What will that do!?" He asked.

"I changed what this system will do now! It'll turn up the heat, and I'm sure he'll calm down if it's hot enough for him!" The lizard answered.

"If you say so!" He responded before running over to the conveyer belt to hit the buttons. Pyrope seemed to find some interest in him again and quickly sent a fireball his way. He shouted before sliding under it and quickly getting back up to hit the second button. He saw a rope come flying into his vision and forced himself to fight his fear and run straight at the orange attack, which passed right through him before he hit the third button. The nearby machinery picked up speed, steam blasted everywhere and the temperature picked up to the point that everything started to look wavy to the humans. "Oh geez! I can feel it through the magic cloak, Alphys! How hot is it in here exactly!?"

"You don't want to know." Alphys answered.

"Nice! It's getting a bit hot in here!" Pyrope said before twirling around and letting out a chuckle. "Heh, I like this."

"Now get to that next room that you're not gonna like." Alphys requested.

* * *

They entered the next room and saw the massive gap between them and the room ahead. The thing is that this gap was filled with steam vents shooting off randomly, looking like a minefield of jump pads that would send you the wrong way.

" _I see what you meant now_." The older human noted with wide eyes.

Frisk's worry showed in her expression. "That doesn't look fun…"

"Y-Yeah, this one looks impossible, huh? B-But don't worry! It was designed with a way to get through! I'll guide you." Alphys stated.

"Welp! Guess we're flying today." AJ noted before holding out his hand for his fellow human. "You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be…" She said hesitantly before taking his hand so he could pull her up and allow her to get onto his back easier.

"A-Alright, go to the one on your right first."

""AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!""

"Now left!"

*Fearful screaming*

"Step on that one behind you now."

"I HATE THIS!" He shouted.

"Now s-step on that one that's… t-towards the door."

"WHY IS THIS THE ONLY WAY!?" He shouted again.

"Now left!"

*Angry screaming mixed with fearful screaming*

"Right! Keep going that way!"

"I miss waterfall!" Frisk cried out.

"Now go left and you're done!"

Once the tall human landed he immediately collapsed and let the shorter one touch the ground as well. "I… am never… going back here again!" He exclaimed as his body shook from fear and adrenaline.

"Yeah, that's really scary…" She agreed. "Really, really scary…"

"You have got to be kidding me…" Alphys said suddenly with what sounded like an angry tone. "Hang on." She said and hung up.

"To what?" AJ asked with a smirk, earning a chuckle from the girl. "Alright well we don't really need to wait for her." He realized and got up. "Onward." They walked towards what looked a bit like a microwave when the short one's phone went off.

"OMG? ppl think Mew Mew 2 is better than Mew Mew 1? LOLLLLL that's a joke right…" Alphys posted.

"The scientist is not only an anime nerd, but one of those people who can't stand a differing opinion on them. You've got to be kidding me." The teen deadpanned.

The girl laughed at that. "Well, even super smart scientists have hobbies, right?"

"But anime!?" He asked, confused. "I mean it explains the cat girl doll but I'm sure there are other-"

UPDATE: "omg… DON'T THEY GET IT RUINS Mew Mew's ENTIRE CHARACTER ARC."

UPDATE: "My Mew Mew 2 Review: Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2 Is Neither Kissy Nor Cutie. Its trash. 0 Stars."

"This entire post chain is making me angry and I don't even watch the anime. In fact I would never watch an anime with that name, it's stupid." AJ commented.

"Yeah that… is kind of a silly name." Frisk hesitantly agreed, not one to say things as strongly as he does. "I'd still probably watch it though."

"Alright, can you give me that phone for a minute?" He requested with clear annoyance in his voice.

"Um, what are you going to do?" She asked worryingly as she handed the phone.

"I'm gonna give her _my_ opinion." He answered as he began trying to figure out how to call Alphys. "I can't stand people like this…" He mumbled. He seemed to figure it out because he was soon calling someone.

"Yes?" Alphys answered.

"BROADEN YOUR HORIZONS A BIT!" The teen shouted angrily before hanging up. "Alright, that didn't make me feel any better, but I don't regret doing it in any way." He said bitterly as he handed the phone back.

UPDATE: "Um… I think one of the humans are mad at me… Idk what I did…"

He didn't even care to read the post so Frisk was the only one to read it.

They reached the next point of interest and realized the microwave was actually a laser safe, within which was a piece of cheese that was melted to the bottom of the safe by the lasers. "WHAT!?" AJ exclaimed when he noticed the cheese and the mouse hole nearby. He jumped down to his hands and knees in front of the hole. "This is ridiculous! HOW!? HOW MANY OF YOU ARE THERE!? WHY DO YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH SO MUCH JUST TO GET CHEESE!? WHO DIDN'T THAT ONE MOUSE JUST EAT THE CHEESE OFF THE TABLE!?... _WHERE IS SHE_!?" He asked in the batman voice before rolling over laughing from his own joke.

Frisk simply watched as her friend rolled around laughing like an idiot. She kept control and simply smiled until he had calmed down. He finally stopped rolling around and caught his breathe when he realized the girl had just been staring at him the whole time with an amused smirk. He blushed and glared at her. "SHUT UP!" He demanded indignantly.

She couldn't hold it anymore and burst out laughing until she was in tears. "I-I-I didn't s-say anything!" She shouted between laughs.

"You were thinking of saying things!" He shouted, which made her laugh more, if that was possible.

He stood up and waited for a few seconds for her to calm down, she didn't. "Alright, well, I'm just going to ignore you now." He decided and walked over to the safe and looked at it closely. "Seriously! Why is this cheese in here!? Is this a cheese prison!? Do people lose cheese easily here!? Is someone really paranoid?! Did the mouse put this here and forget the passcode? WILL YOU STOP LAUGHING ALREADY!?" He shouted as his blush of embarrassment returned. "It was the only thing I could think to say, okay!?" Defending himself seemed to be a waste of time, so he turned away. "Welp! I'm leaving without you! BYE!"

"W-Wait! Wait!" She forced herself to calm down and she was finally able to catch her breath. "I have to do this real quick!" She walked up to the mouse hole. "You can do this, mouse! I'm sure that you can break into this safe and get that cheese, as long as you have DETERMINATION!" She cheered before turning to him.

"Alright, can we go now?" He asked just a bit impatiently.

"Yep! Let's go!" She answered and quickly caught up with him.

For once there was a substantial amount of rock around them and the machinery was mostly built into the rock in this area. Thankfully enough rock was left alone to create a path for them to walk along.

"Hey um… this is going to be a really random question, but… Who do you care about the most?" Frisk asked suddenly.

He turned to her with a surprised and confused look for a moment before raising an eyebrow at her and gaining an amused smirk. "Why are you asking that?" He asked.

"Well everyone has someone they care about, and I wanted to know who you care about!" She answered with her usual pep and smile.

He shook his head before responding like a bad actor. "Oh, well of _course_ I care about you the most, Frisk! … Is that what you want me to say?" He asked.

"No! What makes you think that?" The girl asked with an obvious smile before laughing a bit. "For all I know you might like your parents more, or maybe one of the monsters."

Her lame defense did not make him smile, in fact it seemed to have the opposite effect. "No, you honestly are the only person I like at this point. The monsters are cool though. Well, the skeletons and Undyne are cool. Alphys is… meh. She's alright I _guess_. Can't hate someone that's actually trying to help us." He admitted.

"Hey, you've never really said anything about your mom and dad." The child noticed before gasping. "Are they-"

"No, they aren't dead, unfortunately." He cut her off.

She flinched. "What did they do?"

"They're the reason I'm down here." He answered. She made a confused noise, so he continued. "My Dad decided he'd had enough of me and kicked me out without any damn warning. And my mom!? Heh! She decided to betray me one last time and not say a damn thing to defend me! She obviously didn't want me around either!" He said angrily.

"H-Hey, it's okay. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." The girl said, hoping to calm down her friend. She didn't mean for him to get angry.

"No, Frisk! I want to shout it into the f*cking skies, because quite frankly it pisses me off that the one person I thought I could count on decided it was a good idea to send a seventeen year old out into the world with no idea how to survive in it!" He shouted into the air.

It was in the silence that followed that they heard shuffling. They turned around and saw two large and imposing figures in metal armor standing there awkwardly.

"S-Sorry…" One of them spoke up. "We, like, wanted to take you two to a safe place away from the humans, but you seemed to be having a moment, and we weren't sure whether we should, like, leave or not."

"Well let me tell ya, you should leave!" AJ shouted angrily and pulled out his machete.

"Whoa! Whoa! Chill, dude!" The first one exclaimed as he and the other monster raised their hands up disarmingly.

"AJ! You don't have to threaten them!" Frisk scolded.

He didn't respond, and she wondered why. What she couldn't have known was that he was feeling some strange power well up inside of him. As a light blue mist started flowing out of him, he realized this wasn't determination flowing through him. Suddenly, the other monster jumped forward and swung down with a sword he had suddenly unsheathed. The taller human jumped backwards to the younger one's side to dodge.

"W-Whoa! 02!? What are you doing, dude!?" The first monster asked the attacking one.

The armed monster talked too quietly for the humans to hear.

"What!?... Oh! You're right! Those are the humans!" He pulled out his sword as well. "This is, like, even more awkward than it was before."

"Alright! You know what!?" AJ shouted before sheathing his blade and suddenly picking up his fellow human. "BYE!" He shouted before they turned into a blue blur that rushed down the path. Ten seconds and a few turns later, the duo was far away from the monsters. The boy suddenly tripped and fell forward, dropping the girl and causing them both to tumble repeatedly before skidding to a stop. They both groaned in pain before slowly standing up. "Hey, I think I'm getting how to use that blue magic now… Guess it wasn't Undyne's after all…" He realized.

* * *

"Um… I can't see anything." Frisk realized before her phone went off. "Alphys! We can't see anything!"

"You what!? Oh, I see, th-this room's lights are off. Don't worry, l-let me just hack these back on." The first thing the trio noticed once the lights were back on was Mettaton, flying in the air, wearing a suit, and sitting on a cardboard news set that was also flying in the air.

"""Oh no…"""

"OHHHH YESSS!" Mettaton exclaimed. "Good evening, beauties and gentlebeauties! This is Mettaton, reporting live from MTT News! An interesting situation has arisen in eastern Hotland! Fortunately, our correspondents are out there, reporting live! Brave correspondents! Please find something newsworthy to report!" The robot requested.

"I am literally going to kill that thing at some point." The teen commented, annoyed.

"Our ten wonderful viewers are waiting!" Mettaton added.

"I want to report on the dog." Frisk said simply, as if she had made up her mind already.

"What dog? Oh! Dog!" AJ realized as he looked down the path.

"What a sensational opportunity for a story!" Mettaton exclaimed. "I can see the headline now: 'A dog exists somewhere.' Frankly, I'm blown away."

"Well, let's look around a bit more first."

"But the dog!" The child whined.

"But what about the thing there!?" He said with an equally whiny tone to mock her as he pointed at the nearby script.

"Oh no! That movie script! How'd that get there?" The robot asked, surprised. "It's a super-juicy sneak preview of my latest guaranteed-not-to-bomb film: Mettaton The Movie XXVIII… Starring, Mettaton! I've heard that like the other films, it consists mostly of a single four-hour shot of rose petals showering on my reclining body."

"Wow, you are worse than Papyrus." The boy deadpanned perfectly clear for the calculator with arms to hear.

"OOH! But that's not confirmed!" Mettaton continued. He either didn't hear, or didn't care. "You wouldn't uh, ahem… spoil my movie for everyone with a promotional story, would you?"

"Yep!" The tall human said simply.

"But the dog!" Frisk whined.

"We are absolutely petting that dog after this, I promise." He said with a smile.

"Attention viewers! Our correspondents have found a movie script! Oh my! And it looks like it's for my latest film! Let's not keep them waiting! Let's open it up and get the scoop!" Mettaton requested.

The humans opened up the script only for a bomb to pop out of it. The humans shouted in surprise before kicking the bomb, but it was attached to the script, and the script seemed super-glued to the floor, so they couldn't just kick it off the nearby cliff.

"Oh? What's inside that script?" The robot asked, clearly knowing what was going on. "That ticking sound, that lit fuse… OH MY! Looks like I was wrong about the movie! We definitely have a box office _bomb_ on our hands! And it's about to blow you both to bits!"

"THIS IS REDICULOUS! _YOU_ ARE REDICULOUS!" The boy exclaimed.

"Oh, don't get too excited there, gorgeous. You haven't even seen what the rest of the room is like. Take a look around." Mettaton requested before abandoning the set and simply flying nearby.

The nearby random cup of water they had missed was boiling and shaking, the present box in the distance had a bomb inside, the nearby game was actually a bunch of sticks of dynamite. The basketball and dog were just kind of there.

"WHAT EVEN!?" AJ shouted while Frisk shouted in surprise. The two humans looked around fearfully as they realized they were nearly surrounded by bombs.

"It seems everything in this area is actually a bomb!" Mettaton said before pointing at the white fluffy being of pure cuddly-cute. "That dog's a bomb!"

The dog's tail lit on fire like a fuse.

"No! Not the doggy!" The girl exclaimed.

The flying robot pointed at the nearby sports ball. "That basketball's a bomb!"

The ball's paint tore off to reveal it was really just a bomb.

"OH COME ON!"

"Even my words are…" Mettaton trailed off and then a bunch of explosion sound effects played from his speakers. "Brave correspondents… If you don't defuse all of the bombs…" A spotlight shined on the one dark area of the room, revealing a really big bomb. "This big bomb will blow you to smithereens in two minutes! Then you won't be reporting _live_ any longer. How terrible! How disturbing! Our nine viewers are going to love watching this! Good luck, darlings!"

The teen simply squinted at the robot. "You've sealed your fate you stupid calculator…" He said quietly.

The girl sighed in annoyance. "Can we worry about that later and focus on the _bombs_ please?" She asked.

"D-Don't worry! I installed a bomb-defusing program on your phone!" Alphys said through the phone.

"WHY!?"

"Why did you do that?" Frisk asked.

"…M-M-Mettaton l-likes to u-use bombs. S-So I figured y-you two should b-be prepared!" Alphys answered after a pause. "Now! Defuse those bombs!"

Frisk quickly ran over to the sleeping dog bomb nearby and got close to it. She saw the defuse button turn green and pressed it.

"Great job, Frisk! Keep heading around the room now! Try to get that basketball near the big bomb now!" Alphys said, and the girl ran to do so.

"Guess you really should let sleeping dogs lie!" The girl commented.

"Wait! What do I do then!?" AJ asked the world as he stood in the middle of the large room. Suddenly, something flew by his face. "WHOA! What the…" He saw the cup of water come flying by again and tried to swat it casually. He missed.

"Aha! That one was a _blam_ dunk!" Frisk cheered.

The boy stood there and squinted at the cup as it flew so far away that it became nothing more than a dot in his vision before suddenly flying back at him. He ducked under it and swatted at it at the same time, but he missed again. He barely noticed Frisk run past him as he kept his focus on the cup. "I am going to get this stupid thing…" It flew at his level nearby and he dove to get it while Frisk walked through colored lasers nearby. "Dang it!"

"Haha! That game was a _blast_!" Frisk exclaimed.

The older human jumped into the air and attempted to grab the cup flying high above him. He jumped again, and again. "HAHA! I GOT YOU!" He shouted before landing with the cup against his stomach, buried under his arms. "I DID THE THING!" He cheered before he suddenly got jerked to the side. "AH! NO! GIVE UP!" He suddenly was getting thrown around all over the place by the speedy cup he had trapped. "YOU LOST ALREADY! JUST STOP!"

"Alright! That present was the BOMB!" The girl cheered before looking to the center and seeing her fellow human flying through the air at high speeds, screaming, and hanging on for dear life to a cup. The cup and human then suddenly came flying towards the ground and the boy crashed down feet first, cracking the solid rock around him.

"HAHA! I've still got you, you stupid little thing! I WIN!" He shouted as he hold the cup in his hands as tight as he could, so tightly that the cup was actually cracking a little, causing boiling water to leak out. He then noticed the girl running up to him. "Frisk! Defuse this thing already! The water's hot!" He requested, and the girl quickly used her defuser on the cup.

"Got it!"

"YES! VICTORY!" He cheered and threw the cup into the air as hard as he could. "SCREW YOU, METTATON!"

Said robot came flying in, clapping all the while. "Well done, darlings! Well done! You've deactivated all of the bombs! If you hadn't deactivated them, the big bomb would have exploded in two minutes. Now it won't explode in two minutes… _Instead it'll explode in two seconds!_ Goodbye, darlings!"

""WHAT!?"" Both humans shouted and turned to the bomb that they had absolutely no time to run away from…

…and they noticed its timer wasn't going anywhere.

"Ah… It seems my bomb isn't going off…" The robot realized.

Alphys called, sounding winded, but triumphant. "T-That's because… while you were monologuing, I…" Then she kind of lost her words. "I f… fix… um… I ch-change… the uh…"

"OH NO!" Mettaton exclaimed in realization. "You deactivated the bomb with your hacking skills!"

"Y-Yeah! That's what I did!" Alphys said.

"Curses! It seems I've been foiled again! Curse you, humans! Curse you, Doctor Alphys, for helping so much!" The metal box's emotions then did a 180 and he turned to the camera you were watching this through. "But I don't curse my eight wonderful viewers for tuning in!

Until next time, darlings!"

* * *

 **He's right. Until next time!**

 ***Getting to write your favorite line in the game fills you with Determination.**

 **That dog's a bomb! That basketball's a bomb! Even my words are… *Bombs* XD LOVE IT!**

 **Anyway, hope you all enjoyed and I hope you have a great week!**


	20. Near Death Experiences

**Lost my will and passion to write for a week, that was fun. Thought I guess sometimes you just need a little break, you know?**

 **Let's continue!**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.20

"W-Wow… w-we really showed him, huh?" Alphys said over the phone.

"Yeah, yeah, we won once again." AJ said uncaringly. "But is that dog still here?" He asked aloud as he spun around slowly and found no white fluff in sight.

"Aww…" Frisk vocalized her disappointment.

"Uh, h-hey," Alphys spoke up. "I know I was kind of weird at first, but I really think I'm getting more… uh, more… m-more confident in guiding you two! S-So don't worry about that b-big d-dumb robot. I-I'll protect you from him!"

"Well you've done a good job so far!" The girl commented cheerfully.

"For sure!" The teen said with a nod of agreement.

"Hehe, yeah! And if it really c-came down to it, we could always turn-… Um, nevermind! Later!" The lizard said suddenly before hanging up.

"Hey, wait, why _doesn't_ she just turn him off?" The child asked.

"I was just about to say that!" He exclaimed. "I mean there's gotta be a reason, for sure, but I'd like to know why. Maybe he like, can't be turned off or else he'll die or something."

"Should we ask her?" She asked.

"Do you think she'll answer that?" He asked, figuring the monster won't answer the question.

She hummed in thought. "Yeah, she probably won't, or she would have already, right?"

"Exactly." He agreed before they started walking again. They followed the turns of the rock path and were soon greeted by the sight of the CORE again, thought it was definitely closer now. They stopped and stared at the large and imposing structure over a pool of lava. They were getting closer.

He wondered if they should free monsters. How will humans react to that?

She was excited to reach their destination, but doubt was creeping in. She secretly worried if they would make it out of this alright.

But both of them wondered if freeing monsters was actually possible.

Alphys called again. "Um… I noticed you guys have been kind of quiet…" The lizard's worried tone was clear, seeing them standing there and not saying anything to each other like they usually do. "Are you worried about meeting Asgore?..." There was silence. Neither of the humans responded, they just kept staring, thinking. "W-Well, don't worry, okay? Th-The king is a really nice guy. I'm sure you can just talk to him, and w-with your human souls, you can pass through the barrier! S-So no worrying, okay? J-Just forget about it and smile."

The girl gave a determined nod and smiled. She turned to her fellow human and smiled more brightly, and upon seeing this, he forced a smile back to her. With that, the two determined souls continued on and soon found an elevator. They soon stepped out of the elevator and were now on the left portion of the third floor. The machinery at this top floor was causing quite the racket, and the heat from the lava below was barely noticeable, tempting them to take their hoods off, but they decided against that just in case.

They noticed a few monsters standing around up ahead of them on the straight path and approached a spider woman who seemed to be selling baked goods. Frisk then realized she was being pulled past the monster. "Hey, aren't we gonna stop and see what she's selling?" She asked.

"Nope!" He answered simply.

"Oh come on, AJ!" She responded and pulled hard to make him stop and turn to face her. "She's not a spider, she's a monster, like sans or Alphys." She pointed out.

He growled in annoyance. "If this takes more than five minutes I'm dragging you away."

"We'll be fine." She said with a roll of her eyes and half-pulled the tall boy over to the woman. "Hi there!" She greeted with a wave.

The spider woman smiled and waved back. "Welcome to our parlor, dearie~. Interested in some spider pastries? All proceeds go to real spiders."

Frisk pulled on his arm when he tried to step away from a spider on the table. "How much for a donut?" She asked.

"Just an itsy bitsy 9999 gold." The spider woman answered.

"O-Oh!" The girl exclaimed quietly in surprise. "W-Well, I don't have that much money left, so… sorry, but I'll have to pass." She waited for the monster to respond, but she didn't, she just stood there silently with her smile fixed onto her face. The silence was… worrying.

"We're leaving now, bye!" The teen decided before picking Frisk up off the ground so she couldn't stop him from quickly jogging away from the spiders. They entered the next room and were called by the resident nerd once again.

"Hi, Alphys here! Um… AJ… why are you carrying Frisk like that?" The doctor asked, confused.

AJ's response was to put the girl down. "Nevermind that, there's another terrifying steam-vent maze here, help us out!" He requested.

"Oh, t-this one isn't as much of a maze as the last. It's actually like that room we saw awhile ago. There are two puzzles to your left and right, and you have to complete them to progress!" The lizard explained.

"Oh really?" The boy asked before noticing the door across from them. "Oh yeah, it does look like that one door."

"A-Also, I'd like to say, I don't really…. like giving away puzzle solutions. But if you really need help, just call me, okay?" The monster added. "Actually, wait, I have an idea!" She said suddenly. "Frisk, let's be friends on UnderNet! Then you can just ping me when you need help!"

The humans glanced at each other for a silent moment. "Wait… you didn't know?" The younger human asked.

"Know what?" Alphys asked cluelessly.

"I'm pretty sure you already added her." The boy answered.

"W-Wait, you mean we're already friends?" Alphys asked. "I-I signed you up, didn't I?" She realized. "You've both been reading my posts this whole… time…" It all finally clicked and she was silent for an awkward moment. "Well! I hope… you agree with me… about Mew Mew 2!" And then she hung up.

"The stupidest doctor I've ever met…" AJ mumbled while facepalming.

"Have you met other doctors before?" Frisk asked questioningly.

He took a long deep breath as he prepared his response… only to deflate when he realized his answer. "No, not really." He answered.

She giggled in amusement before looking at the many separated platforms ahead of them. "I was hoping we wouldn't have to do this again…"

"Same." He responded as he looked out as well. He sighed before holding his hand out for her. "Here's hoping this is the last time."

"Yeah." She agreed before taking his hand and being pulled up onto his back. She held onto his neck tightly as he stepped onto the pad.

They found themselves suddenly tumbling through the air as the pad shot them clear over the first platform in front of them. Their screams were cut off when they roughly landed on their backs on another platform. AJ slid upon landing while Frisk bounced slightly. "AJ!" She shouted as she realized momentum would carry her over the edge, and she let out a scream as only two fingers managed to touch the edge of the platform as she began to fall. Her scream made him look up and notice her decent, and his eyes widened in terror as light blue mist burst from his body and he shot over to the edge and reached his arm out. He caught her by her wrist and it only took his mind an instant to realize it before he quickly pulled her back up.

The girl immediately dove against him and gasped shaky breaths as her whole body shook. He held the kid as tight as he could as the fact that she almost just died left him shaking just as badly. "It's okay. It's okay. It's okay." He said over and over again like a broken record, trying to convince himself of it as much as he was trying to convince her. The two humans sat there in the middle of the platform for minutes as they tried to calm down.

"Th-Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you." She repeated.

"Th-This is too much. God _damn_ it I wish we could just stop here." He commented after a few minutes.

"N-No! We c-can't stop here!" She responded, her determination shining through even as fear still gripped her.

"Y-Yeah, I know, we're literally in the middle of all these stupid platforms!" He responded.

"N-No, I mean that we can't stop! Not when we're so close! I know we can free monsters if we can just make it!" She said surely.

"Yeah, well don't go doing stupid stuff before we find you a home, alright!? I've decided that you're not allowed to die before then!" He shouted.

She lightly hit him in the gut. "Our home! Ours! Your skull's as thick as your hair!"

"My hair's no thicker than yours! Shut up!" He exclaimed and laughed.

Thinking about his hair made her remember petting him. "Alright! I've decided I get to pet you after that!" She decided and suddenly sat up straight and reached for the top of his head.

"Wait- what!? Why?" He asked as she started petting him.

"Because your hair is soft, and because you like it, and that makes it a good thank you!" She answered as her cheerful smile returned.

He fought through his embarrassment to speak. "A thank you? For saving you?" He asked, slightly confused as she had already said thank you for that, repeatedly.

"No! I already said that! It's a thank you for taking care of me!" She answered. "You've protected me ever since we fell! And you're funny and really nice to me, so you deserve the best thank you I can think to give!"

Even if she knew, he refused to show that he liked this at all. "K-Kid… you've been giving me a great thank you this whole time. Actually, I've never said thank you." He realized.

"What have I done?" She asked, confused.

He leaned away from her hand before answering with a light smile. "Be adorable, be really nice to me even when I did things you didn't like, talk to me, care about me, get us through situations I was sure we wouldn't make it through, just… generally be a really great partner for this whole ridiculous journey of ours." He listed off. "I'm pretty sure I've never thanked you for all that, and even if I have, you deserve another thank you."

He'd never seen her gold eyes shine so brightly. Then he suddenly found himself unable to breathe because of a really tight hug from the kid. "Ach! Ow… Frisk, breathing is nice…" He said weakly.

"I'm going to find us the bestest, nicest home we could _ever_ ask for!" She exclaimed happily before releasing him from her grip.

"A thank you is totally fine, you know." He commented weakly as he rubbed his neck.

"You're the person _I_ care about the most, so no! That's not fine! That's not fine at all! It's gotta be more than that!" She shouted.

"Frisk, calm down, the adrenaline is making you insane." He requested with a chuckle.

"I AM CALM!"

"CLEARLY!"

With the terror and adrenaline making them basically loopy, they laughed so loudly you could hear them over the machinery throughout the area.

The older human went out of his way to force himself to be serious once he calmed down. He didn't want her flying around anymore times than she had to. "Alright, I really don't want you to get hurt, so… can you just stay here and wait for me while I do the puzzles?"

The girl sighed as if he had asked a dumb question before standing up. "Remember what I said? You take care of me, and I take care of you. How am I gonna to take care of you if I'm not there with you?" She asked rhetorically before jumping onto his back. "Come on! Let's go!"

He sighed. "Alright, fine, I won't waste our time arguing." He cautiously stepped onto the next steam vent. He had figured out the path they needed to get to the left room and was ready to take it. Fear returned to them both as they remembered what just happened, but they were shot upwards and forwards before they had too much time to think, and this vent actually sent them the correct distance. "Phew! Alright, that's better." These vents showed that the first one really was just malfunctioning and they were soon able to safely land in front of the room.

The humans quickly noticed the familiar puzzle with boxes to move and ships to shoot. "Alright, you gonna do this one?"

"Sure." Frisk walked up to the control stick and started the game/puzzle.

"Only one shot this time?" The boy noticed, a bit surprised by the change.

"This one might take longer than the others…" She realized as she moved the boxes left, then right.

""Oh."" They both said simply when the boxes moved out of the way after those two simple moves, leaving a straight shot to shoot the opposing ship. She shot the ship and they laughed for a moment as they walked out.

"Well so much for that!" Frisk exclaimed with a laugh.

"Yeah! That was easy!" AJ commented with a chuckle. He then frowned and sighed when they looked at the massive gap they had to cross. "Crossing all the way over there won't be easy though."

Being sent flying so many times would have been fun by now if it wasn't for the fact that one of them nearly died because of it minutes ago. Fear alone wouldn't stop them from getting across a system of vents that was meant to get people across this gap though, and they soon entered the next room.

"Hey, this isn't the puzzle room!" The girl realized as they looked at the room they were in. Instead of a game, there was a branching path with more conveyor belts. One of the belts was going against them, so they really only had one path to take.

"Well there's another room over there, maybe that's it." He wondered as he pointed to their left. They walked onto the conveyer belts and were quickly sent down the path towards the door. "Watch out!" He warned as three moving blue lasers approached them on the belt. He crouched before leaping over the laser and Frisk did the same. They both leapt over the second and landed in a roll, forcing them to dive and duck under the third as the conveyers continued to move them along. They soon found themselves in front of the actual puzzle room.

Alphys decided to call. "Hey! This um, doesn't have anything to do with the puzzle or guiding you…" In the time that the monster trailed off, the older human walked ahead and went to do the puzzle. The girl pouted at him before following behind him. "Uhh, hey, would either of you want to watch a human TV show together? Sometime?"

"I don't really watch tv shows anymore…" AJ answered with a tone that showed that he wasn't saying no, he was just hesitant. This puzzle was actually taking more than two seconds for him to do.

"What is it?" Frisk asked curiously.

"It's called, um… M-Mew Mew Kissy Cutie…" Alphys answered.

"Well that's not happening." The teen answered bluntly.

"I'll watch it with you, Alphys!" The kid answered.

"R-Really!?" The lizard exclaimed in disbelief. "It's so good! It's um, my favorite show!"

"Alright, got it." AJ said and stepped away from the controls.

"It's all about this human girl named Mew Mew who has cat ears, which humans don't have! S-So she's all sensitive about them, but like, eventually, she realizes-"

"H-Hey! Alphys! Don't spoil it all for her!" The boy commented as soon as he heard 'eventually'.

"…don't matter and that- O-Oh! You're right! Sorry…" Alphys said, embarrassed. "W-Well, after this is all over, we'll watch that sometime, alright Frisk?"

"Right!" The girl agreed before the monster hung up.

"Guess you have something to look forward to." He commented with a chuckle.

"I have a lot to look forward to, though! Freeing monsters, finding a home for us…" The child listed off and was clearly trying to think of more.

"Well let's get moving then!" He cut her off suddenly with a smile.

She smiled back and nodded. "Right!" They jumped onto the conveyer belt that would take them back and the child sniffed the flowers of a random cactus as they went by it. They walked back into the main room and "enjoyed" being flung around by steam vents until they landed on the path that took them to the next door.

* * *

They entered the next room and noticed a few webs hanging high above their heads and a noticeable lack of machinery nearby. "DETERMINATION!" The girl shouted so she could hear it echo back. She heard something to her side and saw her friend was now all the way back at the door. "AJ!? What are you-" Then he suddenly ran all the way back to her in an instant and the blue mist around him faded away.

He spoke quickly. "Alright, Frisk, I have an idea. I'm starting to get the hang of this weird blue magic I have that lets me move fast, so how about you just climb on my back and hang on tight while I run through the terrifying web place ahead of us." He suggested while pointing at the path ahead, which was filled with webs.

"U-Um… are you sure?" She asked out of hesitation and confusion as this all came at her so quickly.

" _Frisk I don't know about you but I have absolutely zero interest in being in that area for any more than two seconds so I would really like to just skip it if you don't mind."_ He answered strongly with a hint of fear in his voice.

"Okay, okay, if you hate spiders that badly, we'll do it your way." She conceded and accepted his plan.

"I do have a fear of spiders, in fact, I'm terrified of them when they are anywhere near me. My bug phobia kicks in to full gear the moment a bug-like creature touches me, so I really really really don't like when they get close and are in the zone where they could touch me if I ignore them for too long, a.k.a. anywhere in the same room as me." He answered quickly as she climbed up on his back.

"I don't think spiders are _that_ bad." She commented. "What I really don't like are those mantis things, their eyes are so creepy!" She exclaimed.

"Fair enough. Alright, let's get this over with…" He said before the blue magic started flowing out of him again as he got into a running stance. All of the sudden they were off, and they ran for an entire second through the web-filled hall before the teen's feet suddenly were caught by webs on the floor, causing him to fall flat and the girl to lose her grip and fall in front of him. They both were lying on webs. "Oh god oh god oh god oh god!" The older human repeated with noticeable levels of panic in his voice as he quickly pulled out his machete and went to work cutting the webs off of him. Just touching the webs was making him panic immensely. Meanwhile, Frisk was trying to pull all the webs off of her.

A terrifying giggle echoed around them. "Ahuhuhu~ So fast… were you going somewhere, dearies?" The spider woman from earlier revealed herself amongst many other spiders on the webs above, below, and all around the path they were on. "Sorry, but I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere now. Someone offered us a lot of money for your souls, so we'll just be taking those now."

"NOPE!" AJ shouted and suddenly started cutting down all the webs around him rapidly, repeating "NOPE!" with each swing. He pulled the girl up and out of the webs only to be suddenly grabbed by purple webs that pulled him down. Frisk gasped before trying to pull them off of him, only to be pulled back by purple webs as well.

"Not so fast, dearie. I told you, you aren't going anywhere, especially now that I've used my purple magic." The monster lady spoke before giggling.

The humans struggled to break free as the spiders inched towards them. Suddenly they stopped struggling as they felt some sort of magical energy building up inside them. Their souls suddenly pulsed red, and the purple webs did as well before disintegrating. "U-Um…" The spider woman trailed off in confusion. The humans recovered from their own confusion before getting up and running towards the exit as fast as they could. The monster shot out webs that wrapped around the older human just before he reached the exit and she pulled herself over to him. She opened her mouth to speak, only to be cut off by him doing three things pretty much at once.

Letting out an ear-piercing scream, screaming " _GET THE **** AWAY!_ ", and creating a blue fireball in his hand and throwing it at her in a panic.

She dodged the point-blank fireball, but it burst in the air and covered a group of webs in blue flames. She screamed at the sight of the flames and dropped the human. "GET THE FIRE EXTINGUISHER!" The boy ran and caught up with his fellow human while the spiders scrambled up near the burning webs and used extinguishers that shot out mini spiders that somehow put out the fire.

After fifteen minutes quietly cursing, shaking in fear, and shuddering from the thought of spiders, the older human had recovered from the traumatic experience and was ready to continue. He had nothing to say about what had happened, except for "HOW DID I CREATE A FREAKING FIREBALL AND HOW DO I DO IT AGAIN!?" He then stood there with his hand out and tried to make another fireball when he had absolutely no idea how to do it. The feeling of creating a fireball was vaguely still in his mind but he was panicking at the time so he couldn't remember enough. "I was never able to do that before! Why can't I do it again though!?" He complained.

Frisk tried to think of something to say to help him, but she couldn't. "I'm sorry. I really don't know."

He sighed. "That's fine, Frisk. I don't actually expect you to know. That'd be weird if you knew, actually. Anyway, let's continue while I try to create fire again." The brown-haired duo walked onward down the hall while the boy glared at his outstretched hand as he tried to make magic happen, literally. Because of that, the child was the only one to notice that they walked out of the hall and onto what looked like a stage.

"Oh? Someone is near. Could it be?..." A robotic voice asked from above them. They looked up at the window above them on their left and saw a familiar block peek out. Mettaton then stepped out and fully revealed himself in a sparkly blue dress. "My one true love?" Music began to play as Mettaton rolled over to the nearby staircase.

"What…the…fffffff…" He kept himself from going any further this time and simply squinted at the robot in confusion and disbelief.

Frisk couldn't help herself from giggling at the sight.

*THUNK**THUNK**THUNK**THUNK**THUNK**THUNK**THUNK**THUNK**THUNK**THUNK* Being that he rolled around on one wheel, going down the stairs was… awkward. He recovered easily though and he began to sing terribly to be beat of the slow song.

"Oh my loooooove…" Mettaton rolled towards them and AJ stepped in front of Frisk. "Please run awaaaaay… Monster Kiiiiiinnnng…" He rolled slowly to another part of the stage and the older human kept himself between the robot and the kid. "Forbids your staaaaaaaayyyyy… Humans muuuuuuuuuust… Live far apaaaaaaaaarrt…" Mettaton continued to move around and the humans kept their eyes on him with confused and awkward expressions. "Even iiiiiiiiffff… It breaks my heart… They'll put yooooouuuuuu… In the Dungeonnnnnn… It'll suuuuuuuuuuck…" That caught the teen off guard and he chuckled for a moment before wiping away his smile. "And then you'll die a loooooooot…" The robot then started filing his nails as he continued his moving and singing. "Really saaaaaaaaad… You're gooonna diiiiiieeeee… Cry cry cryyyyy… So sad it's happeniiiiinnnnggg…" The music stopped and the random flower petals stopped falling as Mettaton stopped circling them.

The humans couldn't even begin to form words to describe their reactions to what just happened.

"So sad." Mettaton spoke. "So sad that you and your tall friend are going to the dungeon." He then suddenly pulled out a remote with a big red button on it from probably the void. "Well, toodles!" He said before pressing the button.

"HEY!" AJ shouted angrily and jumped at the robot before the two humans plummeted as the floor fell away below them. The landed roughly on a rock platform, but they got over it quickly and stood up.

Mettaton flew down to them and used his rocket to stay above them. "Oh no! Whatever shall I do? My love and her friend have been cast away into the dungeon. A dungeon with a puzzle so dastardly, my paramour will surely parish!" At this point the humans noticed the very long path of colored tiles ahead of them. "O, heavens have mercy! The horrible colored tile maze! Each colored tile has its own sadistic function. For example, a green tile sounds a noise, and then you must fight a monster. Red tiles will…" He trailed off. "Actually- wait a second. Didn't we see this puzzle about a hundred rooms ago? That's right. _You both remember all the rules, don't you?_ Great! _Then I won't waste your time repeating them_!"

AJ stared at the tiles for a few moments as he remembered his fun with Papyrus. He gasped. "I remember them!" He exclaimed cheerfully before pausing as he actually looked at the colored tiles.

…

"I CAN BARELY TELL THE PURPLE FROM THE BLUE, I CAN'T TELL THE GREEN YELLOW AND ORANGE APART, AND THE FREAKING PINK TILES LOOK GREY TO ME! _THIS ISN'T FAIR_!" He shouted angrily.

"You both better hurry, because if you don't through in 30 seconds…" Something activated behind them and they turned to see massive jets of fire. "You'll be incinerated by these jets of fire! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHA… HA… HA! My poor love! I'm so filled with grief I can't stop laughing! Good luck, darlings!" A massive timer with the number 30 lowered down next to the flying robot, and the music from earlier picked up again at a much faster pace that the robot had no problem singing along to.

"RUN!"

The teen immediately ran forward at the red tile and ran into an invisible wall. "OW!"

"This way I think!" Frisk said. They passed over a green tile and turned only to run into a yellow tile.

""AGH!"" The humans were zapped and knocked back.

"The yellow ones do smell lemony!" AJ exclaimed.

They back tracked and ran over an orange tile before sliding across a purple tile and into a tile filled with water. They quickly got out and then waded through two more blue water tiles before running into red tile walls. They ran around them and walked over another orange before sliding across two purple ones. The boy turned and jumped into the water only to see the fish swim after him. "AH!" He screamed in fear and jumped out. They continued into an invisible wall and turned to follow the other tiles. They slid on another purple tile and fell into the water. After moving through three blue tiles they made it out onto a pink tile only for all the tiles to lose their color and function.

"Ooooh, I'm so sorry! Looks like you're out of time!" Mettaton exclaimed as he flew directly above them. The jets of fire suddenly ignited on both sides of the path. The two humans looked around for a way out and couldn't find one. "HERE COME THE FLAMES, DARLINGS!" The robot shouted.

"No. No. No." The teen repeated as he tried in desperation to think of a way out, but the walls of fire moving towards them were stressing him out too much to think properly.

"They're closing in!" Mettaton exclaimed.

Out of ideas, AJ simply did the only thing his body wanted to do. He clutched Frisk close and covered them both with his cloak. "No. No. Please no. Please no!" He whispered fearfully as they flames surrounded them. His eyes welled up with tears as he was filled with the fear of a painful death. This was it, they were going to be burned alive. "Not like this, please not like this!"

For some reason, in the midst of the sounds of flames surrounding them, the girl's voice came through crystal clear to him as she whispered. "We'll be alright, I promise."

Mettaton let out an awkward robot cough as the flames stayed there for ten long seconds without moving any closer like they should have. The flames suddenly shut off seconds later. "Oh no! How could this happen!?" He asked.

The kid's phone rang and she leaned away from her shield so she could move her arms and pull out her phone. "I did it! I hacked the firewall!" Alphys exclaimed through the speaker.

"Drat! Foiled again by the brilliant Doctor Alphys!" Mettaton exclaimed in anger.

"That's right!" Alphys responded, full of confidence. "Come on, Mettaton, give up already! You'll never be able to defeat us… Not as long as we work together! Your puzzle's over, now go home and leave us alone!"

"Puzzle? Over?" Mettaton repeated. "Alphys, darling, what are you talking about? Did you forget what the green tiles do? They make a sound, then you have to fight a monster. Well, darlings… that monster… _Is me!_ " The rocket was suddenly replaced with his wheel again and he fell onto the area with a thud. The humans jumped up to a stand and got ready for a fight. "This is it, darlings, say goodbye!"

"H-Hey! Th-This seems bad, but don't worry!" Alphys said through the phone at a much lower volume than before, so only the humans could hear. "Th-There's one last thing I installed on your phone that might help here! You see that button glowing yellow? Press it! It's experimental magic tech, but don't worry, I've don't some tests, and it should work!"

"Okay!" Frisk pressed the button, and a yellow pulse shot out from the phone. The humans looked down at the strange feeling they were getting in their chests, and they saw their souls had turned yellow. The girl had a sudden urge to raise her hand in a finger pistol pointed towards the robot, and when she did, a strangely familiar magical energy built up in her finger.

*PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* Three small yellow lasers fired out from her finger and hit Mettaton's metal body, leaving scorch marks.

"Ow! That actually-" Was all Mettaton got to say before three more lasers hit him and shredded right through his entire body, leaving three holes in his front and back. He cried out in pain as the older human heatedly glared at him and bared his teeth, filled with an urge to deal more justice against this machine. "Y-You defeated me…" The robot said weakly. He seemed barely able to stand. "H-How can th-this be? You both were stronger than I thought…" He said before activated his rocket and flying away quickly.

"W-Whoa!" Alphys exclaimed. "L-Looks like you beat him, huh?" She said with what sounded like a fearful, or even worried tone. "Y-You both did a really great job out there."

"We couldn't have done it all without you, Alphys!" The kid exclaimed.

"What? Oh no, I mean… You were the ones doing everything cool! I just wrote some silly programs for your phone." The doctor seemed to go silent for a minute. "… Umm, h-hey… this might sound strange, but… c-can I tell you something?"

Frisk looked at her friend for a moment with a bit of concern. He was just staring at where Mettaton was and breathing heavily. He still looked angry. She looked back at her phone. "Sure, Alphys."

"B-Before I met you, I d-didn't really… I didn't really like myself very much." Alphys started. The teen looked away from the point he was staring at and looked at the phone. "For a long time, I f-felt like a totally screw-up. L-Like I couldn't do a-anything w-without…"

"Making everyone hate you?" He said, barely audible to even himself.

"W-Without ending up letting everyone down. B-But! Guiding you both has made me feel... A lot better about myself. So… thanks for letting me help you." Alphys said before going silent again.

The boy stepped over next to the girl. "I'm glad we could help you, Alphys." He said in a serious tone with a hint of kindness to it.

"Uhhh, anyway, we're almost to the CORE. It's just past MTT Resort. Come on! Let's finish this!" Alphys said with determination before hanging up.

She didn't respond to what he said, but that was fine, he didn't think she would.

"Are you okay?" Frisk asked, concerned for her friend.

He nodded and smiled lightly. "Yeah. Let's go." He said as he held out his hand for her to take.

* * *

 **Feeling like you mess everything up.**

 **Feeling like you always let everyone down.**

 **Hating yourself.**

 **For the first time ever, a video game character I can really relate to.**

 **You know what I like about Undertale? All of it, but besides that… I like that it doesn't avoid depression as a topic. It brings it up right in front of you without sugar coating it with Alphys, and also hides it well and shows the other side of it with Sans. Sure, it doesn't change the fact that the world at large pretends that the male suicide epidemic and just general suicide and depression are things that aren't real and aren't common, but still, I like that it tries to show it to people. It's even hinted at that Alphys contemplated suicide and even committed it in some runs of the game. Never seen a game mention suicide from depression so directly like that. Shame that, once again, the world will still pretend that it isn't a thing that happens, often, daily even.**

 **And people wonder why I hate humanity.**

…

 **Sorry about that.**

 **Again, when I say 'have a great week', I mean it. I hope your last week was great and that your next week is better. For all of you starting up school again, good luck.**

* * *

 **And for those of you that, like me, did nothing but suffer in public school, I have a major suggestion for you. Literally any other type of school. I go to a charter school now and I only have school once a week, and it's just about an hour of me talking with my teacher, turning in work, getting new work, and then I go home. No other people to deal with, no bullies, no social pressures, no idiots, and honestly I get a whole lot less work than I did in public school. It's all so much less stressful. (Oddly enough, because I joined that school, I was able to find the time to start writing. Over a year later… here we are.)**

 **Don't actually change schools unless you actually believe it will help you though, do research about the school or school system before joining and see if it would help you.**

 **If you can't go anywhere else and have to stay in the school you're in. Well, I can't do much but give you advice.**

 **Stay Determined.**

 **I'll be honest, stuff like that never works on me, never helps me. But, I will admit, it is nice to see this fandom say it so often. It shows that, while the rest of the world won't recognize depression, some people in this fandom do, and that's good.**

 **Again, sorry, I know I ramble a lot. I have a lot to say and the internet is a place where you can say what you want to a lot of people across the world. Amazing, what we take for granted.**


	21. It's Raining In The CORE

**It's raining somewhere, but… not here.**

 **We've reached the first of three important scenes that I've already written beforehand! The end is near!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(Also shout out to that person who found me on Undertale amino. Oh, and would you look at that, we've reached the 100K word mark! I'm sure you all wish I was dead for going on this long but I. DON'T. CARE for once!)**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.21

* * *

The humans continued through the rest of the now deactivated color tile maze and eventually made a left turn before climbing up a set of stairs. At the top they noticed a very familiar rabbit monster and his colorful stand.

"Oh, hey!" AJ exclaimed.

Frisk gasped with a smile.

"Oh, hey! It's you two again!" The Nice Cream Guy greeted. "Care for some nice cream?"

"Sure!" Frisk answered. "Oh! But only if I can get two!" She added before turning to her fellow human. "So we can both have one to celebrate making it this far."

The monster gave a hesitant grin. "Well… I kind of had to raise the price since I'm still not getting many customers…" He hesitantly admitted. "It's 50 gold now."

"Fifty!?" She exclaimed in shock. She checked her pockets and counted her coins before eventually sighing. "I don't enough for two… Sorry…"

The rabbit kept his smile up. "Ah, it's alright little one. It's hot enough here that someone else will buy one eventually."

"Well, good luck then." The teen said before walking towards the second set of stairs in front of them.

"Bye! Good luck!" The adorable child said with a wave as she went with her friend.

They went up the stairs and came across a large hall cutting right into the massive rock wall in front of them that stretched as far as they could see. They passed through it and soon reached the other side of the massive rock boundary that marked the end of Hotland. They were now in an area that was protected from the heat of Hotland by the rock, and before them was large resort building with large MTT letters on the front above the doors. They sighed in relief as they pulled down their hoods and felt real cool air once again. They admired the building for a moment before the girl noticed a piece of paper on their right.

"Hey! Go up the creepy alleyway on the right for some great deals!" Was written on it.

"Sure, that isn't a bad idea at all." The boy deadpanned with a confused expression. "Why would someone write that?"

"Maybe they're just being honest?" She guessed randomly.

"What, so you think that they're actually totally honest monsters and they aren't going to hurt us at all?" He asked with a smirk.

"Maybe." She responded. "Wanna check it out?"

He thought about it for a second before exhaling. "Screw it, why not? We visited the person who tried their hardest to kill us after all, what's a creepy alley gonna do to us?" He asked aloud and they walked down the alley.

They quickly reached a dead end with various trash items scattered around in a seemingly organized way in front of a few trashcans. Hanging out next to the items was a gator monster girl and a cat monster girl.

""Hey! Check it out!"" The two monsters exclaimed and smiled at the two humans.

"Uh, hi. Who are you?" The older human asked, slightly surprised by the seemingly peppy characters in the alley.

The two monsters started talking at the same time. "I'm Bratty, and this is my best friend, Catty." Said the gator. "I'm Catty, and this is my best friend, Bratty." Said the cat. They both looked at each other for a moment before laughing. Frisk giggled along with them and AJ tried to not respond in a rude way to these odd characters.

"So… what's with the shop here?" He asked.

"Well the stuff inside is like…"

" _Totally_ wicked expensive." Catty finished.

"But, like, this stuff we found is like…"

" _Totally_ wicked cheap." Catty finished once again.

"You should,"

"Like,"

"" _Totally_ wicked buy all of it!?" They both suggested.

"U…huh…" He responded slowly. He peeked over their shoulders and saw some of the items they were selling. "Where did you get all of this?"

"I mean, like, where does anyone get guns, or food, or-" Bratty started.

"We found it in the garbage!" Catty shouted before she could stop herself.

"It's _good_ garbage!" Bratty said quickly.

"It's like, really good garbage!" Catty agreed.

'Nice save…' "Well we'll check it out and see about buying any of it." He said before walking around them. They both looked at the items and noticed the few worth mentioning, like the cowboy hat, the junk food, the key, and the revolver. His hand opened a bit on its own and various thoughts flew through his head before he could stop them. His face showed conflict if you took the time to look closely. "Well, the price tags are all way too much, so we can go now." He said before turning around.

"Wait, really?" Frisk asked, surprised. "I thought you would want the gun, to protect us."

"The last thing I want to do is touch that thing." He responded as he began to walk away.

Frisk quickly turned and bought two bits of junk food nearby, since that was the only cheap thing they had, before running to catch up with him.

* * *

The duo stepped out of the alley and turned to see a familiar face. "Hey guys." Sans greeted.

Their shocked expressions lasted for but a moment as they quickly smiled at the sight of their teleporting friend. "Hey sans."

"Hi sans!"

"I heard you two are going to the CORE. How about grabbing some dinner with me first?" The skeleton asked.

"Sure!" Frisk answered.

"Yeah, sure!" AJ agreed.

"Great, thanks for treating me." He responded with a grin, getting a chuckle from them both. He turned to walk towards the alley next to him. "Over here, I know a shortcut." He guided them down the dead end hall.

"Sans, this is just a wall." The teen commented before the skeleton suddenly turned around and grabbed them before teleporting them all.

(It's Raining Somewhere Else – Undertale OST)

"Well, here we are." Sans said casually.

The dizzy humans spun around before falling into the two seats behind them. Now the three of them were seated at a restaurant table with only a candle in the middle to serve as light.

"So, your journey's almost over, huh?" Sans asked with a raised eyebrow and his usual smile. "You both must really want to find a home on the surface."

"Eh, not really. A home down here would be better than one with other humans." AJ commented.

"That's not what we're doing, sans. We're going to the barrier because-"

The skeleton cut the girl off. "Hey, it's alright, I know the feeling." The girl frowned, but he continued anyway. "Though… maybe sometimes it's best to just take what's given to ya. Why go to the barrier at all when you have food, drink, and friends right here?" He asked, motioning around them. He frowned before leaning towards the humans. "You could lose all that if you go any further. Is what you have to do really worth it?"

The humans were silenced by this. They did have good food here, and they did have a lot of friends here. She wanted to free monsters, and he still wanted her to find a proper home, but was it worth possibly dying? Why not just stay down here with them? Why free them? And why try to find a better home up there if one down here would work just fine? Sure, there aren't any very good places to sleep, but like the skeleton just said, maybe they should just take what they have and live with that. The positives certainly would outweigh the negatives, in numbers at least.

"Ah, forget it." Sans spoke up before winking at them with a grin. "I'm rooting for you both."

The humans smiled at that, especially Frisk, who nodded strongly. "Yeah! We can do this! We'll free you all!" She whispered excitedly.

Sans smiled with closed eye sockets at this before opening them and looking at his buddies. "Hey, let me tell you a story." He started. "So, I'm a sentry in Snowdin Forest, right? I sit out there and watch for humans, it's pretty boring. Fortunately, deep in the forest, there's this _huge_ locked door, and it's perfect for practicing knock knock jokes." The humans chuckled at this. "So one day, I'm knocking em out, like usual. I knock on the door and say 'knock knock'. And suddenly, from the other side, I hear a woman's voice. 'Who is there?' So naturally, I respond… 'dishes'. 'Dishes who?' 'Dishes a very bad joke.' And she just _howls_ with laughter, like its best thing she's heard in a hundred years." Meanwhile, the humans were doing their best to keep their laughter quiet and keep themselves from falling out of their chairs over such a stupid joke.

Sans chuckles at the sight, and continues when they've calmed down enough to listen. "So I keep em coming, and she keeps laughing. She's the best audience I've ever had. Then, after about a dozen of em, _she_ knocks and says 'knock knock', so I say 'whose there?' 'Old lady!' 'Old lady who?' 'Oh! I did not know you could yodel!'" Sans paused for effect. "Wow… Needless to say, this woman was extremely good." Having heard that one before, AJ didn't let out more than a chuckle, but Frisk got quite a bit of a laugh out of it. "We kept telling each other jokes for hours, but eventually, I had to leave. Like I said, Papyrus gets cranky without that bed-time story." He said with a chuckle that they all shared. "But she told me to come by again, so I did. Then I did again, and again, it's a thing now. Telling bad jokes through the door… It rules." He said with a big smile.

The humans laughed in agreement. "Sure sounds like it!" The older one commented.

Once the laughter ended, sans's smile faded a bit, and he grew just a bit more serious. "One day, though, I noticed she wasn't laughing very much. I asked her what was up, and she told me something strange…

'If two humans ever come through this door, could you please, please promise me something?… Watch over them, and protect them, will you not?' " This revelation caused both humans' eyes to widen greatly. She had a feeling they were going to leave back then? "Now, I hate making promises, and this woman, I don't even know her name. But…" He looked down and closed his eyes. "Someone who sincerely likes bad jokes…" Then he tilted his head back up and opened his eyes to smile at them. "…has an integrity you can't say no to." The humans were still too stunned to really say anything. "Do you both get what I'm saying? That promise I made to her... you know what would have happened if I hadn't said anything?" He closed and then opened his eye sockets to reveal pure blackness that stared into their souls.

" _ **You'd both be dead where you stand.**_ "

…

"Hey, come on, lighten up you two." The monster said with a chuckle. "I'm just joking with you." He noticed the humans were still stiff and showed no signs of relaxing. "Come on, haven't I done a great job protecting you two? You both haven't died a single time." He said with a wink. The two humans couldn't take him seriously after a statement like that.

"You can't die more than once you dumb skeleton." AJ pointed out with a bit of a laugh.

"Exactly." Sans said with a wink before standing up from his seat. He stared at the humans and gained a strange smile. It was definitely a friendly smile, but he seemed to be thinking of something. He closed his eyes and chuckled before pushing his chair in. "Well, that's all. I don't think I need to voice the opinions of the people at this table, but… Take care of yourselves, okay? Cause someone that _isn't_ at this table really cares about you."

His words hit them harder than they expected, and they felt emotions they weren't used to feeling.

He started to walk away, past their table, but he stopped before he totally left when he heard the teen speak up.

"Sans?"

He turned around and saw them both turned in their chairs to face him. They were smiling at him as their eyes were welling up with tears.

"Some people at this table really care about you too... I hope you know that." He said, and honesty seemed to just flow from him at that moment, and the skeleton could feel it.

Sans's smile vanished. A tear fell down his cheek, and his smile returned in full. "T-Thank you, buds." He said before walking away completely.

The humans turned back to sitting normally in their seats. "Wait, was I crying? Heh. Magic really has affected my emotions. That or being around you has just made me soft." He said with a chuckle before losing his smile. Conflicting thoughts flew through his head and he made a tough decision. He suddenly got up from his seat. "Wait here."

He caught up with the monster as he left the restaurant area. "What's up?" Sans asked as he saw the tall human approach.

"Sans…" He seemed to be having a hard time saying what he was trying to say. "You need to take Frisk with you." He finally said, and the skeleton's eyesockets widened in shock. "I don't want her to go, but she has to! She will be safe down here, with the monsters here. She wouldn't be safe with humans, and she'd just suffer if she tried to stay with me. Just let me go face the king alone. It's better that way." He explained with a bit of desperation as he pleaded with the monster.

Sans's eyes sockets widened in anger. A bone stuck out of the ground under his feet, bringing him up to the human's level. He grit his teeth before grabbing him by his shirt. "You are not going to sacrifice yourself to free monsters, you hear me? If there is one thing that I will not let happen, it's you going and killing yourself after all this time! You and Frisk both have _nothing_ , you need each other rather you like it or not!"

The boy simply looked away from him, a sad look in his eyes. "Well maybe she needs to learn that this world isn't as nice as some people think it is."

Sans got closer till his face was all the human could see. " _You are not hurting her like that…"_ He said slowly. "And I think you don't really want to anyway." He added before removing the bones and backing off. "So stop thinking about taking the easy way out like that. Freeing everyone down here isn't worth it." He turned around and continued walking towards the exit. "Honestly, she isn't the only one that would be truly hurt by you leaving. But despite what you say and do, I think you know that, don't you?" He asked as he put his boney hand on the door. The human was barely even looking at him anymore, and he certainly wasn't answering him. "Just _stop_ thinking like that, alright, bud? There are a few different ways this could end, but the only endings you should even be thinking about are the ones where you both make it out of this alive." He said before turning to leave once again.

He suddenly stopped and looked confused. "Actually, I have one last thing to ask. Can we talk outside?" The boy nodded and they walked outside as the skeleton wanted to do. "This may be my last chance to ask, and I've really wanted to know, ever since I talked with you two after you both laughed at my puns… Why do you two get along the way you do? Why does Frisk clearly like you so much?" He paused for only a moment. "Why have you protected her all this time? You could have just left her with us or something."

AJ thought about his answer for a few seconds, and for once the answer to such a series of questions came quickly. "I did something that no one else has ever done for her before, I protected her. I wasn't about to let a kid get hurt, but her parents didn't share that feeling, turns out. She started really caring for me because she was just so thankful that I had protected her. And that's what made me like her. She isn't stupid, she isn't that annoying, but that's not just it. While what I did was a first to her, that led to her doing a first for me. She… actually cares about me, my feelings, my wellbeing, and not only that, I actually like her! She isn't a hypocrite! She doesn't just care about me because I'm family! She's such a freaking nice and good person, with good morals, too. She's the first person to treat me so nicely. I don't know if you know what it's like, but I've never been around someone that just knew how I felt and tried, without me asking, to make me happy. I've never felt someone care so much for me before! She… well, what else can I say? She's the closest thing to perfect I've ever seen!" He asked finally, unsure of what else to say.

Sans had been smiling as the boy went on, but with his chance to speak, his smile vanished. "I was hoping you'd say stuff like that. Now I can get to the real point of that series of questions." The human was surprised by this. "Don't worry, I really did want to know what I had asked. It's just that there's one question I want the answer to more. Why did you just try and push away your one reason for living?"

The teen frowned and looked away, refusing to answer.

"You saw a perfectly good reason to live right in front of you, that much is clear. You saw someone worth _protecting_ , worth _fighting for_ , worth _faking a smile_ _just to see them happy_. Why in the world would you try and get me to take that away from you?" The skeleton asked with a serious frown.

For a few seconds the human didn't answer, and the monster honestly thought he wasn't going to. But then the boy looked up at the ceiling of the cave, and he did answer. "Life isn't for me, or maybe I'm not meant for life, one or the other. I'm not good at anything useful, I don't know how to do anything needed to live a decent life, I'm too sensitive, I _hate_ people and would never get along with any of them. I thought about it, and my entire future would be suffering and pain, even if I somehow got enough money to live a decent life. There's quite frankly no point to living for me. For others, sure, but not for me."

"…I can't understand it." The skeleton admitted. "I'm trying as hard as I can, but even I just can't understand why you would try to get rid of your reason for living. A reason for living is… well… it's a reason to _live_ , to experience life and all that comes with it. It…" He sighed. He couldn't explain it anymore, he was too baffled by the human before him. "I just can't see how anyone other than me would do that."

"A reason for living is an evolutionary thing, you know." The teen pointed out. "We exist to procreate, and that's honestly it, but then we grew brains and wondered about the world and became sentient. We became much more complex than other life, where the fear of death and the need to live was enough. We need to actually feel like there's a reason for living beyond reproducing, because our mental health and our sanity are important. We need it to make it long enough to procreate. That's all it is, evolutionary. There is no reason for living besides that. Most people desperately search for a reason of their own to maintain that sanity, but I'm one of a few people who see beyond that.

It's not just that my life would be hell and I would rather be dead than deal with that, but also the fact that life itself is stupid, to me anyway. I'm not interested in experiencing the world, I'm not interested in falling in love, I'm not interested in a life that is totally unnecessary. I could die and the world would barely notice it. We _all_ could die, and the universe would just keep turning on. Life sure is beautiful, but it really is unnecessary for the rest of the universe." He let out a sigh when he realized he was just rambling and tried to remember the question.

"So yeah, a part of me sees a reason to live with this kid. After all this time, a big part of me really does want to stay with Frisk now. But the other big part of me, that still recognizes the facts of this world, just really wants to stop. To stop living when it's pointless, to stop trying even though there's no reward for trying that means anything. That part of me really hoped you would take her away, so I could free monsters, and do one, last, good thing, for all the people who still think living isn't stupid." He said in a low tone and frowned at the skeleton. "That's fine though. If people have a reason to live, good for them. …I'm gonna shut up now. I answered the question and if I said anymore I would just rant again."

The skeleton was silent for a minute, frowning in thought. "I could comment on the things you said, but then we'd be here awhile." He commented. Then he suddenly changed. "What matters is what I already told ya, no more thinking like that now. You've got a kid to protect." The skeleton said as his usual smile returned before turning around and walking back into Hotland. "Besides, I personally don't believe in sacrificing yourself for the greater good, not when there are other options. Those other options may be nearly impossible, but I'd still rather try them than take the way that makes most happy but causes a few to suffer." He commented. "Then again, you wouldn't see me doing anything like that anyway. After all, I'm just some lazy skeleton." He said before teleporting away. It didn't matter if what he said was true or not, all that mattered was that the boy took the hint.

"If you say so." The human said to no one with a shrug. He walked back into the hotel and saw that Frisk had been staring in that direction the whole time, waiting for him.

"Were you two talking about something?" She asked curiously.

"Yeah, just some… private stuff." He responded, waving it off as nothing important. "Anyway, ready to keep moving?" He asked, holding his hand out for her.

"Ready!" The young human answered, fueled with determination. She took his hand and felt it again. She couldn't help but feel it, she could feel in his tight grip that he really cared about her. It was the grip of someone who didn't want to lose what they were holding, and she couldn't help but giggle happily.

That smile made him smile. It wasn't the sight of an innocent and kind kid being happy, but the sight of someone that cared about him, someone that he cared about, smiling and being happy… He felt his emotions completely shift and he was suddenly filled with joy. It wasn't even the first time that seeing her happy had made him happy. He wondered if this was what it was like to have a little sister.

Then he surprised himself by actually thinking that this was alright, that he could live with this. For him, it was a weird thought to entertain.

* * *

They stepped into the room that you would see first if you actually walked into the resort instead of teleporting in. There was a fountain in the middle with a statue of Mettaton on it, spewing water onto the floor and creating a large puddle. There was nice tile and carpets, and even some possibly fake plants in the corners of the lobby.

"DETERMINATION!" Frisk shouted, and every monster in the lobby turned and stared at them.

The older human pulled his hood up. "Frisk… why did you have to do that?" He whined embarrassingly. She simply giggled in response and he decided they were leaving the area.

"Wait, what about that elevator there?" The girl asked and pointed at the elevator nearby.

He looked over and saw the small crowd of monsters near it. Their expressions showed their frustration and distress, and one of them was even calling a family member and telling them they wouldn't be home tonight. "I think that elevator's down." He responded and they continued out of the lobby. The sign saying CORE was hard to miss.

They stepped out and away from the lights of the resort and slowly crossed a bridge over a deep, dark pit. There was an immense amount of machinery ahead of him, but everything here looked much more advanced than down in Hotland. Two figures noticed them and retreated into the CORE, and the duo hesitated for a moment.

"I suddenly have the feeling that this area won't be easy." AJ commented.

Alphys called them. "Huh? Who are they?" She asked. "N-Nobody else is supposed to be here. Oh well! We can't worry about that now."

"Yep, this isn't gonna be easy." He deadpanned.

"We'll make it through, AJ! Just stay determined!" She said passionately.

"If we get into a fight, I'll do what I always do." He said assuredly before they continued on and entered the CORE.

(Core – Undertale OST)

"Ready? This is it!" Alphys said. Before them was an elevator, as well as two paths on either side of it. "Take the elevator up to the top of the CORE."

They approached the elevator and pressed the button. Nothing happened for a few seconds. The boy pressed the button twice and waited a few more seconds, still no sound. "Ugh. I knew this was gonna happen."

"What? The elevator should be working…" Alphys said, surprised. She went silent for a few seconds, seemingly in thought, before awkwardly speaking up. "W-Well then! Go to the right and keep going straight!" They entered the room to the right and were met with a dark room and flames in the darkness below. "Alright, now just-… That pit… isn't on my map." She realized. "F-Forget it! Try the left side then!"

"Why isn't this on your map!?" The older human asked, confused.

The lizard let out an annoyed sigh. "T-The CORE is made out of interchangeable parts, so it could have been changed, but there was no scheduled change today! My map should show what the CORE looks like right now!" She exclaimed. The humans entered the next area and actually had a straight path forward this time. "Okay, you should be able to make it through here… Watch out!"

A hat suddenly dropped down in front of them, and before they could even comment on that, the object moved. A pair of boots stuck out of the bottom as the hat floated into the air, and a monster stuck its head out of the top and grinned as two magic orbs appeared on either side of it. The humans got their tools of self-defense out and got ready for the fight. "Tinkle tinkle, hoy!" The monster said before its two orbs moved towards them.

One orb launched itself at the older human and he side-stepped it and turned around to face it as it came back. He dodged again and swung at the orb as it flew by, but it weaved its way around his blade. Meanwhile the other orb was flying all around the child and launching magic crosses at her. She watched three fly at her and she jumped to the side. The orb relocated and fired another three, and she dodged two before hitting the third with her stick, deflecting it away.

The orb then began randomly zipping around and stopping only to launch one cross before relocating. She deflected one before rolling to dodge a second, then jumping back from a third and spinning around to see and duck under the fourth. She noticed the orb seemed to move more when she focused on it, as if it didn't want her to, and so she tried to do just that, deflecting and side-stepping the magic but keeping her eye on the ball. One cross manage to glance her shoulder and cut into it, but she noticed the orb slow down and stop moving as he refused to look away from the orb. It weakly fired one cross and she deflected it back into the orb, shattering it. The floating magic monster seemed annoyed by this. It whispered arcane swear words.

AJ had found a pattern he thought was working for the sphere attacking him, dodge its kamikaze attack and then swing his blade on its string while it was turning around to come back at him. He had nicked it a few times and the cracks on it were clear to see. He noticed the orb sputter and swerve a bit as it came at him again and he was able to shatter it with his sword. He quickly threw his machete at the monster while it was defenseless, but it floated out of the way and grit its teeth. "Hocus pocus!" It announced, and another two orbs appeared before attacking again.

The teen raised his weapon and waited as the orb rushed at him, but the orb suddenly stopped and shot small crosses at him instead. He had little time to react and ducked under the attacks while trying to block them at the same time. The crosses knocked his weapon out of his hands, and he spun around to get it when he remembered his string and instead spun around to swing his blade at the orb. It dashed to avoid his blade and launched more sharp crosses at him, with two of them cutting into his sides as he fell back to try and dodge them. He growled before suddenly standing up with the help of the blue magic and he rushed the orb.

Meanwhile, Frisk jumped back from the orb that was trying to fly into her. It rushed her again and she jumped to the side, but the orb quickly flew at her again and knocked her down. She rolled to the side as the orb smashed into the ground where she was lying and ended up cracking itself. She backed herself against the wall as the orb went after her again, and she moved at the last second so the sphere would shatter itself against the wall. Meanwhile AJ chased after the orb almost relentlessly, dodging its nearly point blank attacks while trying to destroy it with his sword. The orb was as fast as he was, but he was still able to land a strong hit that shattered the orb into little pieces of glass.

The monster seemed really frustrated now. "Alakazam!" It shouted angrily as four orbs appeared and flew at the humans. The teen grew tired of this fight and used the light blue magic. He rushed the four orbs and shattered them all in a second before jumping up at the monster. It just barely flew to the side in time to avoid the human. It started to sweat and seemed to look side to side for a way out. It then let out an awkward chuckle before disappearing into its hat, and then the hat vanished as well.

The boy dropped his weapon and gripped his sides as he collapsed onto his knees. "Ah!… god! That one hurts so much more than other monsters that hit me…" He said weakly.

"Y-Yeah…" The girl weakly agreed as she used her good arm to hold up the phone and activate the portal. She got out the two bits of junk food and tossed one to her fellow human.

*Ring* "Th-That was close. Why are there monsters like that down here?" Alphys asked with a mix of confusion and concern. Though her new thing now seems to be 'hide all doubt behind false confidence'. "I mean… It's no problem, r-r-right? W-W-We've just got to keep heading forward!" She went silent for a moment before hanging up.

Having eaten magic food, they were ready to keep moving into the next room. The next room quickly made a right turn and they found themselves blocked by a forcefield. There were a few deactivated lasers behind the forcefield, and a switch next to it. Alphys called them again. "Looks like you can't proceed until you hit the switch. B-But those lasers will activate when you do. Hang on… Alright, looks like they'll come in this order: Orange, Orange, Blue. G-Got it? Move until the third one."

"Here we go…" The teen said aloud before he hit the switch on the wall. The lasers activated, and as they took their first step towards them, their eyes widened in shocking realization. They halted quickly as two blue lasers passed through them at high speeds before quickly running forward to avoid being hurt by the orange laser. Fearing that the lasers may come back, they ran across the narrow glass platform to the other side.

"Oh my god, are you two okay!?" Alphys asked worriedly. "I… I'm sorry, I gave you the wrong order…" She went silent again, and the teen could guess how she was feeling right now.

"Alphys, it's oka-"

"E-Everything's fine, okay!?" The lizard cut him off as she spoke up suddenly with more false confidence filling her voice. "L-Let's just keep heading forward!"

'Alright, as long as she isn't getting depressed over it.' AJ thought, but avoided saying while Alphys was on the phone.

They continued down the hall ahead of them and noticed the path branch off. They could keep moving forward, or turn to their left. "A crossroads… uhh… uhh… Tr… Try heading forward!" She eventually suggested. The boy let out a hesitant hum at the thought of directions from the monster after the last time, and he peeked into the left path. All he could see was darkness. He shook his head and decided to trust Alphys. "W-Wait!" She said suddenly as they started to walk by the dark room. "No, I think you should h-head left!" She corrected.

He internally admitted that the correct path could be through the darkness, but he would rather not go into another dark room where a certain killer robot was probably waiting for them. "No, I think you were right the first time."

"A-Are you sure?" Alphys asked hesitantly.

"Nope! But I'm sure not going in _there_ willingly!" He responded and continued walking.

"Yeah, I don't think I wanna go in there either." Frisk agreed as she glanced into the dark room before following him.

They continued down the hall and eventually came across another bridge across a dark chasm. The bridge was covered in a ridiculous amount of lasers. "M…more lasers… Okay, I… I won't mess around this time. I'll just completely deactivate the lasers and let you through." Alphys decided, and they waited a bit for that to happen. "Aha! There we… They're… They're not turning off… Why aren't they turning off!?" She asked in annoyance. Her confidence quickly faltered. "I… I can't turn them off… I… N…N-No! I can get around this! I have this under control! I'm going to turn off the power for that whole node!" She decided. Eventually the lights shut off and the lasers shut down. There was just enough light from the room ahead and the room behind to let them generally see. "Okay, go!"

"Good job, Alphys!" The child cheered at the sight of their friend persevering through challenges. They walked along the slightly less narrow walkway and made it half way across before Alphys suddenly shouted.

"WAIT, STOP!" The humans froze in place as over a dozen blue lasers activated around them, with two passing right through them. They dare not move a muscle. "Th-The power… it's turned itself back on! D-Damn it… Th-This isn't supposed to… I… I'm gonna turn it off again!" She announced suddenly as she forced herself to focus. "When it turns off, move a little, and then stop! Okay? I'll just keep turning it off when it keeps coming back on." The lights and lasers flickered off again and the humans rushed forward. They were able to move for a single second before the lights started to flicker and they stopped as quick as possible as the system kicked on again. Then they went out again and they quickly ran forward. They repeated that two more times until they were safely past the lasers. "S-See? I've got everything under control. Everything's under control!"

"Th-That was just as terrifying as flying over a pit to be honest." AJ commented.

"Y-Yeah." Frisk agreed.

The humans continued through the CORE and soon reached a crossroads, with three paths to choose from. "Alright! So, you should… you should…" Alphys trailed off. "…I don't know? This doesn't look like my map at all. I'm sorry… I… I have to go."

"No, Alphys, WA- and she hung up! Great!" The teen exclaimed before letting out an annoyed sigh.

"Determination… DETERMINATION!" The girl shouted passionately as she stared at the obstacle before them and the smell of ozone filled their nostrils.

"Alright, you pump yourself up, I'm gonna- what the?" The screen on the wall of the left hall suddenly lit up, and he approached it. "North: warrior, south: sage, any path leads to the end." He read quickly. "North it is then."

"Hey, wait! We're not going down a fighting path!" She countered. "Let's go down the sage path and free everyone peacefully." She demanded more than suggested.

He exhaled through his nose. "Fine. Fighting would have been more fun though." He commented before walking down the left hall. Frisk gave him a look that said "I can't believe you just said that" before following him.

They continued down the hall until they noticed a room to their left, which they entered. Upon entering they noticed the boxes and ships puzzle. "Awesome! I knew picking this was a better idea!" Frisk commented cheerfully before quickly getting up to the controls. Her tongue stuck out to the side as she focused intently on the layout of the puzzle. "Oh." She sobered up when she realized this was easily the hardest version of this puzzle she had ever done. She focused and spent the next minute and a half maneuvering the boxes until she had a shot on the opposing ship. "Yes! Got it!" She cheered and turned to her fellow human with a big, cheerful smile. "Now let's get back to the-"

The sound of a rocket drew their attention to the door leading out, where they saw a familiar box with arms come flying in at high speeds and ram into the taller human, essentially clotheslining him when he failed to duck in time. Mettaton's arms rapidly grew in length and wrapped around the downed human completely and pulled him up into the air. "Hey!" The girl shouted and pulled out a stick before running at the robot, who quickly flew away and back down the hall. The boy struggled and shouted and did all he could to break free. Mettaton looked behind him as he flew and was surprised to see the small human actually gaining on him. He stopped and turned to her before snapping his fingers, and a forcefield appeared between them.

"LET HIM GO!" She shouted at him.

"Ooh, feisty." The robot commented. "This, darling, is the patience test. It's something you need to have when you're waiting for a show you love to begin." Mettaton explained. "So join my wonderful fans and be patient, will you darling? The fabulous show starring yours truly will begin shortly! We just need to finish some… final prep work." He said, pointing at the struggling human in his arm before flying down the hall further and into another room.

Frisk banged her fists against the forcefield, but it was clearly in vain. She reluctantly sat down and waited like she was told to do, frowning all the while. She eventually realized her mood and let out a slow breath. "Just stay determined, we'll get through this. I know we will." She said to herself.

* * *

 **I've started school again! NOoooooooooooo… I was hoping to get this done before that happened, but it's too late! …Alright so I thought I was going to have to do geometry this year. IT'S WORSE. I HAVE TO TAKE A STUPIDLY LONG MATH CLASS NOW. AS IN AN ACTUAL CLASS. THAT I SIT IN. WITH OTHER PEOPLE.**

 **School may or may not affect my free time, so if I miss even more Saturday posts, that's why. It honestly probably won't affect it, but I figured I should warn you all anyway cause… school + fight scenes? That** _ **could**_ **end up being a problem…**

 **Yes I know I could have split the chapter into two parts but I've decided not to. Might as well just keep them fused together, longer chapters towards the end, get to the end faster.**

 **Well, that's all I have to say for now. Hope you enjoyed and I hope you have a great week!**


	22. Death By Glamour

**Umm… Hi! *Awkward wave* Those of you who have been reading for awhile and know that I post on Saturdays are probably wondering what I'm doing posting right now. Well, I had planned to post this chapter Saturday, then the next one next Saturday, and then… well, you get the point. But I don't want to make you all wait like four weeks for the ending… so… I'm cutting the time in half!**

 **Now if I had thought of this earlier I would have posted this early Wednesday as sort of a half-way point in the week, but… that's not happening because the idea came up late that night. Actually, I have that class on Wednesdays now so I can't do it anyway.**

 **Welp! I'm going back to playing the BF1 Beta!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.22

* * *

A familiar child entered the large dark room, and before her was an equally familiar block with arms.

"Oh yes, there you are, darling." Mettaton spoke.

"ABOUT TIME YOU GOT HERE!" The familiar voice of a third figure shouted angrily from above. The clanking of machinery echoed through the room as a cylindrical cage descended behind Mettaton. It stopped high above the area, but the older human could now be seen with the help of some lights in the area that switched on.

"I'm sorry!" Frisk shouted back apologetically. "Some monsters attacked me after the forcefield opened and…" She trailed off suddenly and smirked, with one of her eyebrows rising to express her confusion.

"Frisk…" AJ warned.

The girl's grin grew as she tried to hold back her laughter.

"Frisk…" He growled out.

She couldn't help it and she covered her mouth with her hands as she started snickering.

"Frisk! Come on!" He whined.

Her snickering grew much louder.

"FRISK! FOCUS!" The teen shouted angrily as he gripped the bars of his hanging cage.

The girl burst out fully laughing, and spoke as she did. "B-But how am I s-supposed to focus when y-you're wearing cat ears!?" She asked.

* * *

"Quit cursing, buddy, it's bad for show business." Mettaton requested as he threw the human into a cage hanging high above the ground. Down below, workers were performing the finishing touches on the stage/arena.

The boy spun around and gripped the bars as tight as he could as he glared at the flying robot. After saying he was going to kill him at least a hundred times, he decided acting was the best thing to do now… which was why he was now using all his strength to pull apart the two bars in front of him. Mettaton responded by pulled out a remote with a red button on it and pressing it, causing the human to scream in pain as the entire cage electrocuted him for a few long seconds. He panted as he tried to recover from that. "I wouldn't waste your time with that darling. Besides, I need you for my show." Mettaton spoke.

The teen glared up at him heatedly. "Oh really?... What are you gonna do to me?" He asked, as if he was daring the robot to tell him.

The robot held up a set of pink cat ears in front of him. "Hold still for a moment, darling."

He stared at it for a moment with a confused expression. "…What?" Then his eyes widened and he blushed in embarrassment when he realized what it was going to do. "Don't you fu-"

The robot cut him off by suddenly putting them on his head before he could blink.

"You've got to be kidding me…" AJ deadpanned.

"Aren't they just perfect for you!?" Mettaton responded enthusiastically.

"They're pink!" He responded.

"Well sorry darling, but Alphys only had one pair of these left." The robot responded. "Oh, and by the way, if you touch them, you'll automatically get electrocuted again!" He said with all the lights on his face red instead of green at that moment. "Best to just accept it! But don't worry, the audience is going to love you, I'm sure!" He held up a random mirror in front of the cage, as if to make his point.

"But that looks stupid! Why wouldn't you paint them to match my hair at least!?" The teen asked angrily with a blush as clear as day. The ears were electronic and actually twitched and tilted in response to his emotions and his interests.

"We don't have time. The kid is almost here and letting the paint dry would have taken waaaay too long." Mettaton explained. "Though, to be honest, I really do think pink is your true color. You should embrace it." He said sarcastically. The human fully understood that this robot was just trolling him and he growled furiously. "I can get something else that _is_ brown if you want." He commented before suddenly grabbing the human by his head and not-so-gently pushing his head against the floor of the cage as he attached a brown tail to his rear. It also moved and responded to his emotions.

"Ow! What did you-" The human turned and saw the tail behind him. " _Oh my god I'm going to kill you_." He stressed as he turned back to the bane of his current existence.

"Look, kid, I'm glad you're getting into the character of being an animal and all, but I'm not looking for a ferocious animal trapped in a cage here." The calculator with arms stated. "I want to really give something for our fans, and if we're gonna give them something they'll love…" He flew back a bit and raised up his arms. "…You gotta do the thing."

AJ squinted at the robot's raised arms with the fists raised up and wrists tilting them forward. He quickly realized what he was referring to and his face showed… let's just say he was angry. 'OH MY GOD I need to think of something more extreme than I'm going to kill you because BOY am I gonna kill this thing!' "…As soon as I get my machete back I am going to turn you into scrap metal and throw you into the lava back in Hotland." He said plainly once he thought of something more descriptive and less automatic than his previous threat.

Mettaton raised the red-button-O-pain again. "Look, bud, you can either practice doing the thing and not get hurt, or, I can press this button again… repeatedly."

'Well, not many options there.'

* * *

The tail swishing behind him was what really broke Frisk.

"It's best to ignore him, darling, because it's time for us to have our final showdown." Mettaton started. "It's time to finally stop the 'malfunctioning' robot… NOT! Malfunction? Reprograming? Get real. This was all just a bit show. An act. Alphys has been playing you both for fools this whole time. As she watched you both on the screen, she grew attached to your adventure. She desperately wanted to be a part of it. So she decided to insert herself into your story. She reactivated puzzles, disabled elevators, she enlisted me to torment you. All so she could save you from dangers that didn't exist. All so you would think she's the great person… that she's not."

"N-No… Alphys…" The girl said with a sorrowful look and disbelief in her voice.

"So she _was_ totally lying to us. I was hoping that wouldn't be the case." AJ said with a frown. "Damn it, Alphys."

"And now, it's time for her finest hour. At this very moment, Alphys is waiting outside this room. During our 'battle', she will interrupt. She will pretend to deactivate me, saving you both one final time. Finally, she'll be the heroine of your adventure. You'll regard her so highly she'll even be able to convince you not to leave… or maybe not. You see, I've grown tired of this predictable charade. I have no desire to harm humans, far from it actually. My only desire is to entertain. After all, the audience deserves a good show, don't they? And what's a good show… without a plot twist?"

The two doors leading out suddenly shut, and there was the sound of someone banging on the door. "H-Hey! Wh-Wh-What's going on!? Th-Th-The door just locked itself!" Alphys said through the door.

Mettaton whipped out his mic as the lights on the stage floor turned on. "Sorry, folks! The old program's been canceled! But we've got a finale that will drive you wild!" The stage suddenly began flying upwards like a high speed elevator, and the cage above flew up at the same speed, so it remained at the same height in terms of perspective. "REAL DRAMA! REAL ACTION! REAL BLOODSHED! ON OUR NEW SHOW… ATTACK OF THE KILLER ROBOT!"

"Frisk! Use the yellow button again!" AJ shouted.

"But I don't want to fight him!" The girl responded.

"How else are you gonna beat him!?" He asked.

"Yes, I was the one who rearranged the CORE, I was the one that hired everyone to kill you two! That, however, was a short-sighted plan. You know what would be a hundred times better? Killing you myself!" Mettaton said.

Frisk fought with herself internally before deciding it was best to at least see what she could do with the laser since she didn't already know what to do, yet. She hesitantly pressed the button and a yellow pulse changed her soul from its usual bright red. She fired off three yellow lasers from her finger at the robot, but they bounced off of him.

"That won't work on me anymore, darling. I got myself an armor upgrade." Mettaton said.

"Okay, what do I do then?" Frisk asked herself.

"Listen darling, I've seen you fight, and I'll be honest, you're weak. Even if you both continued forward, Asgore would still take both your souls. And with just one more soul, Asgore will destroy humanity. But if _I_ get your souls, I can stop Asgore's plan! I can save humanity from destruction!" Mettaton explained.

"You don't have to do that! We can talk with Asgore! We'll help him free you all and no one will have to get hurt! Not humans, not monsters, not anyone!" Frisk argued.

"It's not that simple, kid. But, if I took your souls, I could cross through the barrier, and become the star I've always dreamed of being! Hundreds, thousands, no, millions of humans will watch me!"

"Oh! So you're just being selfish then!" The teen realized.

"Be quiet, kitty." Mettaton requested simply while turning slightly towards the cage before looking back at his opponent. "Glitz! Glamour! I'll finally have it all! So what if a few people have to die!? That's show business, baby!" He exclaimed. "But enough standing around and talking! Time to die!" He announced before pointing towards the child as three bombs suddenly appeared from the darkness behind him and flew towards Frisk.

"Shoot them! Quick!" The older human shouted worriedly.

The girl held up her finger pistol and fired at the bomb, causing it to explode. When it exploded, magic energy shot out in a line in four different directions, with one coming right at her. She was so surprised by this that she only moved just enough to get clipped by the explosive wave and knocked down.

"Frisk! Are you okay!?" The boy asked worriedly. He tried to pull the bars apart and get to her, but they wouldn't budge, even with all the strength that magic had given him.

The girl grunted before standing up, and she used the portal of her phone to get a cinnabun out and put it in her pocket to prepare for the fight. She saw the other two bombs and she stood up straight as they approached. She fired at one and jumped to the side to avoid the wave she knew was coming. The wave passed her as she fired at the other one and jumped to the side again to dodge its wave.

Her phone rang now of all times. "U…uh… I can't see what's going on in there, but… d-d-don't give up, okay? Th…There's a way to really beat Mettaton, but… it's a work in progress so… don't judge it too hard."

"What do I do?" She asked quietly.

"You know how Mettaton always faced f-f-forward? That's because there's a switch on his backside. S-S-So if y-y-you c-c-can turn him around… and umm… press th-th-the switch… He'll be… um… vulnerable. Well, g-gotta go!"

Frisk put her phone away again and squinted at her opponent in thought as she tried to figure out how to make him turn around. "Hey, Mettaton! There's a mirror behind you!"

"Oh? A mirror? Right, I have to make sure I look perfect for our grand finale!" Mettaton exclaimed before turning around. "Umm… I don't see it. Where is it?" The vain robot asked as the girl quickly rushed up to him and flicked the massive switch on his back. There was a moment where Mettaton didn't move. "Did you… Just flip… My switch?" He asked before suddenly spinning around and losing control. Suddenly he exploded and the area was filled with smoke. And a voice that was not like Mettaton's at all spoke through the mist.

" _OOOOOH YEEEEEEEEES_!"

"…What." The teen was filled with concern.

Suddenly, massive stage lights settled in and shone on one portion of the mist in front of Frisk.

"Ohhhh my." The remotely robotic voice spoke up again. A figure could be seen in the spotlight. "If you flipped my switch, that can only mean one thing. You're desperate for the premier of my new body… How rude. Lucky for you, I've been aching to show this off for a long time. So as thanks, I'll give you a handsome reward. I'll make your last living moments…"

The mist was suddenly blown away and a whole 'nother robot was revealed. And this one had legs for days.

"Absolutely beautiful!" Mettaton EX exclaimed as the music began to play.

(Death By Glamour – Undertale OST)

A massive screen came online and snowed their ratings in real time. "Lights! Camera! Action!" Mettaton announced before running at his opponent. He quickly tried to kick Frisk, so she ducked under his first sweeping kick before backing up from another and jumping far away from the last attack.

"GO, FRISK! YOU CAN DO THIS!" AJ shouted.

The girl heard his voice and gained a determined look in her eyes. She saw the crowd below them and the cameras around them, and she smirked as she realized what she needed to do. She ran head first at her opponent, who showed surprise for only a moment before going with it and lining up a kick for her face. She slid on her knees under his attack and posed dramatically when she stood up behind him. He looked over his shoulder before spinning and trying to get her with his metal heel, only she limbo-d under his leg without even looking before spinning to a stand and smirking at him as his frustration started to show. The crowd cheered as she ducked under another kick and maintained her grin while she sidestepped two straight forward kicks at her chest. She jumped over a sweeping kick but he quickly brought his leg back and connected a straight kick into her gut and knocked her down.

He smirked at her after finally landed a hit, but she simply stood up and posed again. He frowned, but he remembered his fans and smiled again. "Drama! Romance! Bloodshed!" He sent out more bombs at the human and she raised her arm up to fight them off. She fired at the first and spun to the side, firing at one behind her that she noticed during her spin. She saw one get right in front of her, so she jumped into the air and fired at it, spinning in the air gracefully to avoid the magic wave that followed. She noticed Mettaton come in from the side and aim a kick at her chin. She dove backwards to avoid it while simultaneously shooting a bomb in front of her, forcing Mettaton to back up. She hugged the ground to avoid the magic rushing over her.

Despite how well she was doing and how in awe he was with her dodging skill, AJ was still incredibly antsy and worried for her. He never wanted the kid to get hurt, that's why he took up the burden of fighting for them. He tried again to pull the bars apart. Nothing happened.

She went to stand up, but Mettaton was already on top of her and she rolled away to avoid an attempt to stomp on her head. "I'm the idol everyone craves!" He announced as he tried again. She rolled away again and quickly pulled out her stick and hit him in the leg, making him stumble and giving her time to get up and take some steps back from him.

She thought about what the audience might want from her right now, and she had an idea. It wasn't very like her, but that didn't really matter right now. "Come on, Mettaton. I bet you can't hit me at all!" She taunted.

The robot smiled at the challenge. "Smile for the camera, darling!" He requested before holding his arm out, but instead of sending bombs, he sent mini versions of his blocky self that flew at the girl. She stood her ground and shattered each little robot with her stick one at a time. She finished up with another pose, and the audience ate it up. The robot kept his smile up. "You know, darling, I kind of admire how you humans always have your hearts on full display… why don't I show you mine?" His heart shaped core was let out of its glass canister and floated in the air above them.

Suddenly, slowly moving bolts of lightning began raining down from the heart, and Frisk's eyes widened as she realized what she needed to do. She began firing yellow lasers at the heart as quick as she could, though it moved a bit and that caused her to miss a few times. As she dodged lightning and fired at the heart she noticed two bombs descend to either side of her, and she quickly shot one before jumping forward to let the magic waves take out the other bomb. She stumbled to dodge more lighting that nearly fell on her and she fired a few more times at the heart. It suddenly flew back down and back into Mettaton, and once it did he recoiled back as if he had taken a hard kick to the gut.

"Ohhh! I'm just getting warmed up!" Mettaton exclaimed dramatically before sending more robots at her. She held her stick tight while firing into the crowd of mini machines, taking out quite a few before they got close to her. She dove to the side to avoid the last few before turning and swinging at them with her stick. She realized at the last second that one of them was holding a bomb that went off the moment she hit it. She cried out in pain and was flung away by the blast. The older human gasped and watched worriedly as she got up, looking burnt all over and tears leaking out from the pain.

She posed dramatically. The crowd screamed.

Mettaton grit his teeth for but a moment before forcing his smile back. "Lights! Camera! Bombs!" He announced as another wave of bombs flew at her. She grabbed the cinna-bun and bit down on it before jumping high into the air. She twirled in the air and fired down at the bombs flying up at her, causing almost all of them to destroy each other. She landed and spun around to take out the last two, but had to focus on the robot quickly approaching her.

She leaned back from a kick aimed at her face before sidestepping his leg as it came down like a hammer. He tried for a side kick to her head, but she leaned and ducked away from it. He grew frustrated and tried to grab her, but she jumped and pushed off his shoulder in order to twirl and flip in the air. While in the air she fired at the two bombs still approaching them. When she landed behind him, the human and robot posed dramatically as the bombs went off behind them. She smirked and swallowed the last of the cinnamon bunny before she was kicked in the head by the opportunistic robot, knocking her away.

"I think our ratings could use a little boost!" Mettaton said before turning to the cage high above the area. "Oh AJ darling!~ It's time to do the thing!"

A camera flew up to the older human's level and he turned away with an irritated look. He noticed Mettaton holding up the red button while the girl was recovering from the blow to the head. He knew he didn't want that horrible pain again. He turned to the camera and blushed heavily. He raised up his hands and curled them up into fists… "Nyah…" He said weakly.

"We both know you can do better than that, darling!"

He sighed before going all the way and doing it all again, with more enthusiasm and one of his eyes closed. "Nyah!~"

"Look at those ratings!"

The camera flew away from him and he looked down at the ground while he felt like his face was on fire. "I regret ever joking about being part cat…"

Mettaton hummed in satisfaction before turning back to Frisk. "We've grown so distant, darling. How about another… heart-to-heart?" His core flew up into the air again and began raining down lightning in periodic pulses. More mini-Mettatons attempted to grab her, but she simply ran circles around them while firing at the heart until it retreated back into her opponent. Suddenly, there was an explosion of sparks and metal as his arms flew off. "A…arms? Wh…who needs arms with legs like these?" The robot asked with a weak smile. "I'm still going to win!"

Four more bombs appeared and flew at the human once again. She jumped backwards as she shot the one to her right before shooting the one behind her and rolling out of the way of the magic wave. She shot and sidestepped the third before noticing the armless robot approach at high speeds and kick at her the moment he was in range. She jumped over the kick and pushed off his head to flip over him, firing at the last bomb behind him as she did. He leaned forward to avoid the blast wave and the girl slid off his back and fell on her head. He quickly spun around and kicked her like she was a soccer ball, sending her crashing into a wall. She tried to recover from her daze and get back up, but he quickly got to her before she could and planted his heel into her gut. She cried out in pain before holding up her stick and swinging at his leg. She hit hard enough to get him off of her, and she fired four lasers at his chest to knock him back. They seemed to do nothing more than push him back. She jumped and hit him with her stick in an uppercut fashion that knocked him away and broke a few pieces of metal off him.

"That's for taking my friend and throwing him in a cage!" She shouted angrily.

Meanwhile the older human was just as angry. He couldn't stand watching her get hurt anymore and was angrily throwing himself at the bars in an attempt to break them.

"C-Come on…" Mettaton said before attacking again with the help of his mini bots. She met him head on and he tried to kick the side of her head, but she raised her stick and blocked his attack. His eyes widened for a moment before swapping feet and going for a kick in the gut. She shot his leg just as he attacked, and the force of the laser sent his leg the opposite direction and made him fall forwards and land flat on his face. She quickly jumped back as the bots swarmed her. She shot three times before swinging into the swarm as they started grabbing her and climbing all over her. She struggled to get them off of her and Mettaton used that chance to place a bomb right in front of her. She noticed this just in time and jumped away. The blast flew at her as she landed and she turned so the blast would blow the bots off of her right arm. She then swung her other arm into the air to perform another dramatic pose while also throwing the bots off of her.

The crowd was going wild and loving every second of this dramatic battle.

She quickly used her phone portal to get the last piece of monster candy out and chew it. With her wounds gone once again, she smirked at him, and he frowned back. "The show… must… go on!" He managed to say. Another volley of bombs attacked, and Frisk fired at one and jumped to the side to dodge the wave from it. The bomb set off all the other bombs and the mass of waves hit her directly and blew her away.

He couldn't take it anymore. He started kicking the bars as hard as he could, and he was starting to put a dent in them. He just wanted to kill him, he just wanted to make him pay for causing her so much pain. As far as he was concerned at that moment, the robot deserved it. His protective side was terribly strong for someone who had never felt an urge to protect someone before falling down this mountain.

She forced herself up and posed dramatically once again.

"D-Drama… A-Action…" It was clear that both combatants were on their last legs. More bombs were thrown at the kid, and she waited till they reached her before jumping over them and firing, destroying them all at once. She twirled and just barely avoided the energy waves flying all around her before landing gracefully, though a bit less gracefully than normal.

"L…lights… C…camera… Enough of this! Do you really want humanity to perish!?" Mettaton asked, frustrated. "…Or do you just believe in yourself that much?" He wondered as more bombs and bots attacked once more.

"Yes! I do believe in myself!" Frisk responded as she shot two bombs and dove away from their waves. "I believe in myself, and I also believe in my best friend, too!" She continued as she destroyed a horde of bots with her stick, shattering them all quite skillfully.

He stopped attacking the bars and stared at her in awe as she fought.

She saw the last few bombs come at her from above and she ran while firing at them to avoid their magic waves. "I know that we can win! I know that we can save you all!" With all of the attacks destroyed, she posed dramatically. "I know we can make it, because we have DETERMINATION!"

And suddenly, all of his anger was gone. He wasn't losing himself to rage anymore… He wasn't even afraid anymore. He knew she could win. "YOU'VE GOT THIS, FRISK! SHOW THEM HOW DETERMINED YOU ARE!" He screamed passionately.

Mettaton stared in awe for a few moments before smiling. "Haha, how inspiring! Well, darling! It's either you or me! But I think we both already know who's going to win." His heart shaped core floated up once more. "Witness the true power of humanity's star!"

Frisk reached into her item portal and took the one last thing in it, a hot dog, and ate it quickly. She smiled and ran forward. The heart began shooting focused bursts of lightning directly at her, and she jumped from side to side as she fired at it while rushing towards it. Two bombs got in her way without warning, but she was able to dodge their waves as well as the lightning without slowing down. She hit the heart again and again with her yellow lasers, and eventually the heart retreated back into Mettaton, and with two explosions, his glorious legs fell off. He had nothing left but his core.

"Then… are you the star?" Mettaton wondered. "Can you really protect humanity?"

The girl smiled at him. "I know you don't think it'll work, but I just _know_ it will. We'll talk with Asgore, we'll free everyone, and then he'll realize he shouldn't destroy humanity."

Mettaton actually smiled a bit, as if he was warming up to the idea. He turned his head as much as he could and noticed the screen. "Ooh, look at these ratings!" He exclaimed in surprise. "This is the most viewers I've ever had! We've reached the viewer call-in milestone! One lucky viewer will have the chance to talk with me! Let's see who calls in first!"

Of course, the call was immediate, but the humans didn't expect to hear a familiar and… spooky voice on the line. "Oh… Hi…Mettaton… I really liked watching your show… My life is pretty boring… but… seeing you on the screen… brought excitement to my life… vicariously… I can't tell, but… I think you said this is the last episode?... I'll miss you… Mettaton… Oh… I didn't mean to talk so long… oh…"

"No! WAIT! Wait, Bl-… H… they already hung up…" Mettaton realized, seeming sorrowful. "I'll… I'll take another caller!"

"Mettaton, your show made us so happy!"

"Mettaton, I don't know what I'll watch without you!"

"Mettaton, there's a Mettaton-shaped hole in my Mettaton-shaped heart!"

"Ah…I… I see…" Mettaton said, seeming to finally understand things. He smiled. "Everyone… thank you so much." He looked up at Frisk. "Darling, I'm still not totally sure about your plan, but… regardless, I think it may be better if I stay here for awhile." He realized. "Humans already have stars and idols, but monsters… they only have me. If I left, the Underground would lose its spark. I'd leave an aching void that can never be filled. So… I think I'll have to delay my big debut up there. Besides, you've proven to be very strong, as strong as your friend, even. Perhaps… you two may be strong enough to get past Asgore. By working together, by using… what was it again?"

She gave a big smile. "Determination."

"Yes, that, Determination… Hmph. You know what? I'm sure you two will be able to protect humanity." He said with a smile. "Haha." His smile became a clearly false one. "It's all for the best, anyway. The truth is, this form's energy consumption is… inefficient. In a few moments… I'll run out of battery power… Oh, right." He said before the floor of the cage suddenly opened up and the older human came falling down to their level. "Well… I'll be alright, anyhow. Knock em dead, darling." He said to Frisk. "And everyone… thank you. You've been a great audience!" He said before the lights above them went out and he shut down.

"I…I managed to open the lock!" Alphys said as the door opened and she came walking in. "Are you three…" She trailed off when she noticed Mettaton. "Oh my god!" She ran over to him. "Mettaton! Mettaton, are you…" There was a long pause before she sighed in relief and exclaimed "Thank GOD it's just the batteries! Mettaton, if you were gone, I would have… I would have…"

"Alphys… it's okay, he'll be fine, that's all that matters, right?" Frisk asked softly.

"Y-Y-Yeah!" Alphys lamely agreed. "I m-mean, really, it's n-no problem anyway, you know? He's just a robot, if you messed it up, I c-could always… j-just rebuild another…"

"He really is more than just a robot, huh?" AJ asked, and the lizard didn't respond. "It's fine, Alphys, you don't have to answer." He then remembered the cat ears and tail on him and quickly threw them off.

"Why don't you both go on ahead?" The monster suggested. "I'll catch up in a minute."

"Alright." The teen understood and nodded before walking off, with Frisk following along. They left the room and the hall they ended up in quickly made a right turn. They walked down it for a few seconds before they heard Alphys's little legs coming up behind them.

"S…sorry about that! L-Let's k-keep going!" She said lamely, and followed behind the humans as they walked on. "S-So you're about to meet Asgore, huh? You must be… Y-You must be… Pr…pretty excited about all that, huh?"

"I think anxious is a better word for how I feel right now." The older human responded.

"Y-You'll… you'll finally get to go home." Alphys said.

"Oh yeah, there is that whole journey." He commented.

"We'll finish that one as soon as we finish talking with Asgore!" Frisk said cheerfully.

The trio eventually reached the elevator at the end of the hall and the two humans opened it.

"W-Wait!" Alphys spoke up. They turned to her and she started sweating. "I mean, um… I… I was just going to, um… say goodbye… and…" She turned away from them. "I can't take this anymore!" She shouted. "I…I lied to you." She admitted, her face contorted in sadness, disappointment, regret… "A human soul isn't strong enough to cross the barrier alone. It takes at least a human soul… and a monster soul. And I don't know that you two can just hold hands and walk through either! At best, only one of you might be able to leave here… and to do so… you'll have to take his soul… you'll have to kill Asgore…" She explained. "…I'm sorry." She said before walking away from them.

The humans turned and looked at each other with worried expressions. "No, wait!" The boy spoke up to the girl beside him. "This is fine! We aren't going to go through the barrier! We're going to break it with the help of Asgore! We won't have to worry about anything like that!" He realized.

Frisk smiled and nodded in agreement, but then her smile faltered and she looked down. "I…I know I'm always saying that I know we'll save them, because… I do know! But… what if it _doesn't_ work?" She asked quietly, hesitantly. "What if we can't break it and only one of us can leave?'"

He actually smiled in response. "Well! If that's the case, than the answer is simple! We don't leave! We stay and live down here with the monsters! If nothing else, Toriel will probably be happy to see us." He figured.

She smiled with the thought of death being basically out of the equation. "Alright! Let's do this!" She said before they pressed the button and went up the elevator.

* * *

The numbers of the elevator let them know this was going to be a long trip up, and so it began.

"You know, I realize that I've implied this, but I really want to say it, so you know it for sure." AJ spoke up. "I'm really glad I met you, Frisk."

She blushed and smiled greatly at this. "Thank you. I'm really glad I met you too."

He chuckled. "All this started with us falling down a mountain, then you decided you were gonna find a home for us, and then you added saving monsters to that. It's been a… rollercoaster of emotions, but it's been fun."

"Yep!" She agreed.

"…We honestly should have died before this." He said with a sigh. "I don't know how we ever got this far, though magic is definitely part of the reason. I just wanted to make sure that you know, no matter what happens next, I really am glad I met you instead of… *sigh* nevermind."

She turned and hugged him. "It's okay, you don't have to say it." She said with her usual smile. "I'm really glad I met you instead of simply running away till I found a new home. Finding one with you will be much better, because I'll have a real friend with me!"

He smiled at that. "Hey, why did you go to this mountain anyway? Did you really think you would find something up here?" He asked the girl.

"Well… I kind of thought climbing all the way up a mountain and getting one last look at the city before I left would be… really nice. I thought it would look cool up there. I actually didn't know which mountain it was at first, but then I got close to it and realized what it was. But then some other path opened up that I had never seen before. I followed it and got up near the top really easily."

"I wish I had an easy path like that!" He complained. "Freaking vines were everywhere for me!" She chuckled at that. The elevator finally came to a stop and opened for them. "Well, alright… we got two possible endings for this 'game'… The 'best' ending where we free the monsters, or the second best, where we just live down here with them."

"I would love to live here, but I'm gonna keep hoping we get the best ending!" She exclaimed with a smile.

He nodded in agreement. "Here's hoping."

And so they walked out into the stone brick hall and began to follow it wherever it turned. "DETERMINATION!"

They walked for a short distance and reached the end of the hall. There was an elevator to their left, and the path continued to their right. The wall followed the path and turned right, but left was not a wall, but a view. Before them was part of an entire city, a great and massive city of monsters. They were standing on one of the outer paths of the massive castle that sat in the center of the city, above it all. They gasped in awe as they stared out at what they could see. The rest of the castle was behind them, above them, for the path they were on was not at the very top of the castle structure.

"Wow! This place is huge!" Frisk exclaimed.

"The Kingdom of Monsters." AJ realized.

They admired the many buildings below them, small and large, before realizing they should continue to their right and follow the path. They kept their heads turned towards the city as they walked down the path until it turned. They then gained a whole new view of another part of the city as they were now on another side of the castle. Eventually the path turned into the castle and they walked into the darkness.

They reached light and were greeted with a strangely familiar sight. A cozy little house inside the massive castle, and it looked identical to Toriel's.

"Toriel?" The girl said as she walked towards the house with a confused stare.

"She's not going to be in there." The boy said certainly.

"DETERMINATION!" She suddenly shouted excitedly before running in.

They entered the house and found the inside was also nearly identical to Goat Mom's Home. This New Home though had a chain spread in front of the path to the staircase which had two padlocks on it, as well as a note. "Howdy! I'm in the garden. If you have anything you need to get off your chest, please don't hesitate to come. The keys are in the kitchen and the hallway."

The child gasped in excitement. "What is our room like in here!?" She asked before rushing into the hall.

"Frisk! Wait!" He called out and quickly stopped her before the first door in the hall.

"What?" She asked, confused.

"I have a really bad feeling all of the sudden. I don't think you should go in there." He answered with a worried expression.

"But I wanna see what's in there!" She whined.

"I know, I know. Just… How about this? I'll go in and check, and you can go get that key in the kitchen while I do that. How's that?" He suggested.

She couldn't stop her disappointment from showing, but she nodded nonetheless. "Okay."

He pulled out his machete. "If I get attacked, you'll be close enough to hear it." He noted.

She nodded in agreement with a bit of a worried look at the thought of him getting hurt, but she went away anyway. She picked up the key in the kitchen and came back as he stepped out and closed the door to the room.

"Well that was disappointing."

"What was in there?" She asked curiously.

"Absolutely nothing. The room was empty. No furniture, no rugs, no nothing." He answered.

"Aww…"

"Well, I can already see the key on the floor there, so let's get that thing open." The teen said before jogging down to the end of the hall and picking up the key.

They unlocked the two padlocks and moved the chain out of the way. They descended the stairs and continued down another familiar path. They followed the path and ended up outside again. They followed along this new side of the castle. Along this whole journey, a story was told to them.

"A long time ago, a human fell into the ruins..."

Before they even knew it, the story was over, and they stepped into a long, window-lit hallway.

* * *

 **I have written the end, I have written it all. I know exactly when this will end and how, and while I could have ended this story in many other ways, I don't care, I'm ending it the way I want to end it. Nothing else for me to do but check grammar, and post.**

 **Hope you enjoyed, and I hope you had a great week so far, that the rest of the week is just as good, and that your next one is even better.**

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 **I guess since we're near the end… I might as well say it…**

 ***Rant mode engaged. You should run. Seriously.* I haven't gotten any freakin reviews in six chapters that mention if I'm still doing good or not, or if any of you are enjoying this or not. I do not expect the people who have already mentioned that they're enjoying this to ever mention that again or ever feel the need to say it again, but look at it from my perspective. I have no clue if anyone is actually enjoying this or not!**

 **For all I know the people who follow or fav just like this because of what they saw at the start, but then they read on and realized they didn't like it anymore so they aren't reading anymore! The people who left reviews also might not like it anymore for all I know! You all might hate this and are just waiting till it ends so you can tell me all that I did wrong while writing this! And if that's the case, what are you doing? Why read a fic you don't like? But anyway!**

 **Believe it or not, I hate saying this, because I know I look like I'm asking for attention or positive reviews, and I don't like looking like that, cause it's not that simple!**

 **I am one of those people that hate themselves and everything that they do, so guess what? I need a positive opinion occasionally because I'm sure not gonna give any to myself. Other people might benefit from critisicm, but I don't, because I am always criticizing everything I do already!**

 **Think of it like this, cocky people who think they're the best could use some criticism to tone them down, but if you reverse that, people who think they're the worst and only see faults could use some people pointing out that they're actually doing something right, you get? And you guys have done that! It's just that I don't know if you still think that anymore.**

 **Now let me be clear, I am not asking for any kind comments. Only leave those if you actually want to, do not feel like you have to. With this fic I can make an exception because if I have this many freaking followers on this fic I must be doing SOMETHING right. I don't really need anything more from you guys in this case, I just wanted to give you all something to think about more than anything.**

 **When I say "I hope you enjoyed/are enjoying" I mean it, because I don't know if I'm doing anything right or what I'm doing right, and in this case no one has said anything in many a chapter, (Until someone mentioned that they feel for me going to a class again. I did see that, thank you) so I can only hope that you all have enjoyed this.**

 **Don't think I don't know how it is for you guys though. Just sitting back and enjoying a fanfic, not ever really thinking to mention how much you like it. Or, you've already left a review a long time ago and feel no need to send another. I TOTALLY get that, seriously, I do. I pretty much never leave reviews on fanfics I like either. Though I'm also kind of shy and awkward and have a really hard time thinking of the right things to say…**

 **Oh shoot there was something important that I was going to say and I forgot! NOOOO**

 **Oh, side note that may or not be what I was actually going to say- I'm not sure. Just a little thing that I've noticed. I get so few reviews, like, no matter what I write. EVERY other fic I see gets tons of reviews and mine always get so few and I don't know how to explain it. I just attract a shy/awkward/silent group of readers? I'm doing something wrong and you all only just barely put up with me? I seriously appreciate whenever I do get a review that isn't hate, really, I swear I do, but still, I always get less and I've always wondered why.**

 ***Gasp* I remembered what I was going to say! The one LAST thing, I swear.**

 **Despite everything, I can only say thank you at the end of each chapter and wish you guys a great week for one really big reason. Even better than the positive reviews is the fact that I've gotten almost ZERO negative reviews, and that makes me** _ **SO**_ **happy! It makes it so much easier to write when my sansitive soul isn't being crushed by negativity, and I can only thank you all for not being negative about stuff. Seriously** _ **, thank you**_ **!**

 **Alright, I'm done. If you stuck around to the very end of this rant, I'm so sorry. Have a very good day along with your greater week.**


	23. Determination

**I wrote this entire chapter after posting the fourth chapter, (inspiring fight music created a sudden urge to write the scene) and I've made small changes as we went along in the story, just little things I remembered in the chapter that I wanted to change or improve. It's finally time to post it, after so long…**

 **I just needed one chapter where I could go completely crazy and just have fun, okay? I needed at least one in this story, it's just how I am. XD Once we're past the insanity, we'll move on. The chapter I post on Saturday will be the last for this fanfic. It's gonna be bigger than any other I've posted for this story. Actually it's gonna be bigger than most chapters that I've ever posted, period.**

 **Also, it's easier for me to respond to reviews by speaking to a general audience rather than with direct responses, so I wrote my review responses after the author's notes at the end of the chapter.**

 **Anyway, enjoy the insanity before the finale in one week.**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.23

* * *

""Sans?"" Both humans asked as they entered the long hall.

And there Sans stood with his usual smile.

"Hey guys." Sans greeted.

"What are you doing here?" Frisk asked.

"Yeah, I mean it's good to see and all, but…" AJ trailed off, awaiting the skeleton's answer.

"Well, you see, at this point you're going to go and fight the King." Sans started. "You will meet, and determine the future of the world. If he kills either of you, he can open the barrier with the seven souls, and monsters will be free. If you kill him, though, nothing will be able to stop you from leaving the Underground, but monsters will continue to be trapped here."

"No, we're going to talk to him." Frisk cut in. Her partner nodded in agreement, though he was a bit hesitant. "We'll talk and no one will have to die."

"Well, normally I would let you do that." Sans said, silencing her. "Normally I wouldn't try and stop you from going and meeting the king. Normally I would let you two and Asgore decide what will happen." Sans frowned. "Unfortunately, things are out of my hands now, and I have no choice. I have been forced to make the decision early…"

The older human became wary. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"That power you have… you aren't supposed to have it. No human is ever supposed to have the power that artifact can give." Sans explained. "I can't allow you to reach the surface with that power, AJ. A human with the energy of that artifact _cannot_ be allowed onto the surface."

"T-Then take it out of me! If we have to fight, I'll fight Asgore without its power, I don't care!" The boy said, worried. "But you can just take it out, right?"

"I can actually, but you'll have to hold still. Come closer though, first." Sans said. His smile didn't return until the lights in his eye sockets turned towards the window to his right. "You know… it's a beautiful day outside." He noted.

The human walked a few steps towards the monster and looked out another window with a smile. "It sure is." He agreed.

A certain sound leaked through the glass, a familiar and pleasant sound. "The birds are singing… the flowers are blooming… On days like these…" He looked back at the human before him, and then looked past him at Frisk, who was watching with a worried expression. Sans was smiling, but it was a sad smile. "Kids like Frisk… should be running around. Laughing, playing… enjoying themselves." He looked back at the taller human before him and looked him right in the eyes. "And kids like you… well… they should be watching over kids like Frisk. Taking care of them, making sure they don't get themselves hurt… maybe even playing with them." He laughed an empty laugh. "But with your fight with Asgore coming up… I'm not sure you'll be able to do that…" He raised his arm. "I'm sorry that I have to do this to you." He whispered.

(I'm conflicted, but I suggest "Dummy! (Remix)" by the owner of the "Electric Mudkip" youtube channel, or good old "Megalovania" or "Megalo Strike Back", I guess. Obviously, I do not own or claim to own any of these songs)

The older human dashed to the side as two bones smashed into the ground where he was just standing. His weapon was in his hand and held out in front of him. He didn't even notice that he had pulled it out. It must have been instinct. The blue misty energy was flowing around him already. "S-Sans?" He asked, confused.

"The only way to take the power out of you is to kill you." Sans answered before holding his left arm forward, another barrage of bones appearing and shooting towards the human.

"NO, SANS! STOP!" Frisk cried out.

AJ stood his ground. His arm became a blur as he broke all the flying bones with his machete. "Sans… you know I can't let you do that…" He said slowly.

"Well I can't let you go past this point with that power in you." Sans responded. His shot his left arm up and a group of bones stuck up out of the ground where the human stood. With the power in him, he was able to see them and jump up to avoid them. The bones retreated and he landed where he had stood. "I wish it didn't have to be this way, believe me."

The male human glared at him. "If you really meant that you wouldn't be doing this!" He shouted before rushing his opponent.

"That's not how it is, bud!" Sans countered as he held his left arm out towards his opponent. The human jumped from side to side as he ran, dodging rows of bones as they jutted out of the ground.

"SANS!" AJ shouted as he attempted to jump on top of the skeleton. His weapon was stopped mid swing when his back suddenly connected with _the ceiling_. His eyes had forced themselves shut from the pain, but when he opened his eyes, he saw Sans looking up at him with his left arm raised up, and blue flames coming out of his left eye (socket). Sans swung his arm down, and that's when the human saw it. His soul, which had turned blue, was yanked downward, and he went with it and smashed into the floor.

"STOP, PLEASE!" The girl cried out again, tears flowing as she watched one of her friends try to kill her best friend.

"Just let this play out, kid." Sans commented before giving her a strict look. "I'm serious! Do not interfere!" He added strongly before turning back to his opponent.

"In case you didn't already know, the artifact gives everyone that touches it a unique power." Sans explained. He held out his arm and lifted the human up in front of him. That particular human was glaring heatedly at him and gritting his teeth. "Rather you are a monster or a human, if you touch it, you get some ability, though you can only have one." He threw his arm out to his left and the human flew with his soul. He landed on all fours on the wall and glared at the skeleton, who simply threw him back towards the center of the hall. "We don't usually bother getting the powers these days, since no one really needs them." The human turned mid-air and went to throw his blade at Sans, but the monster quickly threw him to the ground again before he could. "Muffet, however, was one of those few who didn't listen and touched the artifact anyway, gaining some needless power."

"Sans…" AJ growled out angrily as he tried to get up.

"I was sure the power you got from the artifact was high speed, and yet, during your fight with her, you suddenly threw a fireball!" Sans continued before pausing a moment. He leaned forward and squinted accusingly at the boy. "That was _her_ power… She never even used it in that fight, and yet you turned around and used it anyway." He walked up to the human, who was kept pinned down by his soul. "How did you use her relic power?" He asked threateningly.

Sans's opponent didn't answer, and instead continued to push against his power for a few seconds. The human suddenly shot up and swung, hitting empty air. AJ heard something and he looked up to the sound. He saw a massive wolf skull with a bundle of blue energy building up in its mouth. The energy was released as a laser that shot right at the boy. He jumped to the side to avoid it before dashing forward, right towards Sans who stood ahead of him.

The skeleton shot his hand up again, and the boy was thrown off the ground as if he had jumped. The skeleton's eyesockets widened in shock and confusion before he quickly jumped to his left to avoid getting slashed. He swung his right arm to his left and a bone appeared on the human's left to stab him. AJ slashed the bone out of the air before quickly jumping away from bones jutting out below him. He threw his weapon at Sans and held tight to the string that connected it to him. Sans teleported to the center of the hall to avoid it, but his opponent was persistent and pulled the string hard to the left, sending the machete towards the monster. Sans jumped up to avoid it before sending another bundle of bones outward.

The human jumped backwards and the bones smashed into the ground. Suddenly, he found himself surrounded by those large blaster-skulls, all preparing to fire. "Please, bud. Just let me make this quick so all three of us don't have to suffer for as long." Sans pleaded.

"Sans… please… don't…" Frisk begged weakly.

The skeleton let out a sad sigh and he avoided looking the girl in the eyes. "I'm so sorry, Frisk. Just please forgive me for this someday." He requested sadly, and a large row of bones appeared from wall to wall to keep the girl out of the fight.

"What you need to do is stop!" AJ shouted suddenly.

Sans held out his left arm and the blasters fired. AJ jumped straight up and avoided the lasers, but another skull waited for him at the peak of his jump. He quickly threw his weapon downwards and it stuck into the ground. He pulled hard on the string and pulled himself back down to the ground to avoid the laser. Barely a second after he landed, he was practically on top of Sans.

He swung horizontally for the head, and Sans teleported behind him to avoid the blade. AJ spun around and swung diagonally left to right, but Sans jumped away. The skeleton continued to backpedal as the human swung twice more before counterattacking. Two bones appeared on either side of him and attempted to meet where the boy stood, but the human jumped backwards again. Three more skulls appeared at Sans's side. They fired one after the other and forced the human to jump left, then right, then left again to dodge the lasers.

"You don't get it!" Sans shouted angrily, the flames around his left eye glowing brighter for a moment. "If you get to the surface, the artifact's power will grow out of control and-"

"No YOU DON'T GET IT!" AJ screamed, a blue mist suddenly flowing from his right eye. "I can't die! I can't let Frisk be hurt like that! After everything you've said, you should understand that and stop this! In fact, I can't believe you're doing this after everything you SAID TO ME!" He said as he threw out his right arm to the side.

Sans felt himself be pulled to his left slightly, his foot skipping across the ground a few times before he stopped and froze for a moment. 'Did he just…' He then glared back at the human and threw his left arm to his left. He watched as the human did what he had just done, skip down to the side a bit before stopping. They both paused again before trying again at the same time, causing both of them to skip back to the center of the hall once again.

'He's copying my relic power now!' Sans realized. 'And I guess when we have this ability, it won't work on someone else who has it as well. Well, this isn't that bad… It looks like he can only copy my original artifact power. Guess I'm not throwing him around anymore…' With a wave of his arm, two more blasters appeared on either side of the human. AJ simply ran straight at him as they fired, forcing him to jump back as the boy tried to punch him and ended up cracking the floor with his fist. With a sudden swing of his arm, he threw his machete at Sans while he was midair. The monster teleported behind him. The tall human pulled on the string and threw his weapon over his head. Sans jumped to the side as the weapon smashed into the ground where he stood.

More bones jutted out from the floor, forcing the human to jump into the air. He looked at Sans and saw a large amount of bones flying at him. He spun in the air and pulled the string, twirling his weapon around him and skillfully shattering all the bone attacks. Once again he used the string to bring his blade down on his opponent while still in the air. Sans simply teleported two feet to avoid it.

The human landed and rushed him again with his machete. "You know, there's a reason I don't move much when fighting." Sans randomly said as he backpedaled from three slashes aimed at his head. "And it's not because I'm lazy." He added as he jumped around the human and continued to dodge more slashes. He occasionally threw in a bone attack as he jumped, stepped, and teleported around, but the human either destroyed or dodged every attack. "No, you see…" He trailed off before suddenly creating a bone in his right hand and holding it like a sword.

He used his sword to knock the human in the chin, then the chest, before knocking him on his back with a jump kick to the chest. "The reason I don't typically use close range skills like this…" The light in his eyes disappeared. "I feel some need to play fair, give you a chance. But you know what? I'm done playing nice." The lights in his eyes returned, but his expression had changed, he was serious about this fight now, no messing around. "This cat's curiosity will finally be the death of him." He still couldn't help but crack a joke.

The human stood up and glared at him, only his glare had lessened. It wasn't because he wasn't angry though, it was because he was getting more focused. He threw on the hood of his cloak and prepared another dash, only this time he was ready for a sword on sword engagement. Thanks to the light from the window, his hood created a shadow that made it impossible to see his face. "Just… die already…" The human boy whispered angrily. "You f*****g COMEDIAN!" He screamed before basically appearing in front of Sans mid swing.

In an instant, his blade was deflected, creating sparks. Sans simply smirked at him. AJ swung twice more as fast as he could, and the skeleton's bone 'sword' deflected his machete almost faster than he could see it. Somehow this lazy skeleton was better than him with a sword. Sans jumped into the air and the human jumped up to meet him. Their blades clashed multiple times as Sans deflected all of AJ's attacks, and he made it look like he wasn't even trying. With one sudden swing, the human was sent crashing into the ground by Sans. The skeleton took advantage of this and sent a barrage of bones into him while he was on the ground before the monster finally landed.

Sans could hear Frisk begging them to stop, and he held back a tear. The human stood up and Sans could see the sizable cracks in his soul. 'Not much longer now. Soon this will be over… for him.' The skeleton thought. The human once again appeared in front of him, crossing the gap between them in the time it took to blink. In that same time, Sans flawlessly deflected the slash and knocked the boy's weapon out of his hands as a gaster blaster shot the string connecting it to him. The sound of glass shattering echoed through the hall as the boy's weapon made a hole in one of the windows. In that moment that he had deflected the attack, the human's head had tilted back enough for the light to get past his hood. The look of shock on the red-eyed boy's face was arguably priceless to sans.

That didn't change what he had to do next though. "I'm so… so sorry…" Sans's bone sword pierced the boy's chest before he kicked him down the hall. With the boy down and bleeding out, he quickly created more bones above him and dropped them on him, intent on putting him out of his misery. The boy suddenly was standing and they shattered all the bones with a blade.

(Now start playing "Destruction of Determination", made by the owner of the youtube channel "Mettaton", I believe.)

"W-W-Where'd you get that knife, bud?" Sans asked fearfully. 'He should be dead! How is he-' He saw the cracks in the boy's soul completely vanish. 'What!?'

"…Determination…" The tall human said with a strangely ominous tone as he stared at the heart locket in his hand. He looked up and Sans saw two glowing red eyes stare at him from the shadow of the boy's hood. He held up his right hand and the knife held within it. The skeleton began to feel fear, and very little made him feel anything like that. With a wave of the boy's hand, a group of floating knives appeared at his side and launched themselves at the monster.

Sans's eyes widened in shock before he created just enough bones to counter the knifes. 'No! He's copying my other relic powers! Except… they aren't bones, they're knifes. Why?' He went to quickly fire another barrage of bones when he noticed the ground under him turn ever so slightly red. He quickly jumped backwards as knifes suddenly jutted out of the ground. He looked up and saw the human standing before him throw his knife right at him, flying straight as an arrow. He deflected the flying weapon with his own. Suddenly, without moving an inch, the human was upside down in the air right where the knife was, a twisted smile on his face as he went to swing the knife that was now in his hands again.

'That's my teleporting! But it seems limited to his knife… Again, why!?' Sans ducked to avoid the swing before spinning around and blocking the knife as the human landed behind him. He managed to block two more attacks, but it was clear now that he was having to actually try in order to keep up with the boy. The human slid behind him and he spun around to deflect the knife, then the human slid past him again and he spun to deflect again. His opponent struck three more times at a speed that Sans could just barely keep up with before the human suddenly kicked him. He caught the kick with the bone in his hand, but he still slid back from the force.

He quickly created another blaster in front of him and fired it at his opponent almost point blank. The human had simply jumped to the skeleton's right, so he quickly shot out a horizontal row of bones that the boy had to limbo under to avoid, causing his hood to fall back off. The boy stood up and stared at him with a twisted smile and a red mist flowing from his right eye.

"You see this!? You're already corrupting the artifact's power! This is why you can't be allowed on the surface! It will only get worse!" Sans shouted. AJ simply attacked him again, and he jumped onto the left wall to avoid him. AJ's grin grew before he jumped right at Sans. His knife hit the wall as Sans teleported onto the opposite wall. The human threw his knife at the skeleton, who prepared to block it. Instead, the human appeared just before the knife hit him and attempted to kick Sans. Both his feet instead planted onto the skeleton's weapon before he pushed off. He backflipped before throwing both his arms forward and sending a multitude of knifes at his enemy.

Sans teleported onto the ceiling to avoid the attacks, so AJ planted both his hands onto the ground when he landed. Knifes jutted out of the ceiling and forced Sans to jump down. As the skeleton fell towards his opponent, the human shot up a row of knifes at him. He responded with a trio of blasters that vaporized the knifes and hit the boy directly. 'Did that kill him?' Sans thought after he landed. When the dust cleared, he saw the cloaked boy lying on the ground. He couldn't see the kid's soul, so he wasn't sure if he was really dead of not.

Then he heard the kid chuckle.

He chuckled for a few more seconds, slowly growing louder, before he finally moved. He slowly but surely stood up as he continued to chuckle, until his chuckle turned to full blown laughter. It wasn't his laugh, it was clearly a more feminine laugh. Then the human spoke, and the voice that came out of him sent chills down Sans's spine.

"Wow, I'm still alive!" They realized with a smile. They chuckled again. "That artifact's power is incredible! Who needs LOVE when you have _this_!?"

Sans sighed and shook his head. "I should have known… no one else calls me comedian… no other human has red eyes…" He looked up at the human threateningly. "What did you do to him, Chara?"

They covered their mouth with their hands and let out an amused giggle. "Oh Sans, you silly little skeleton- I took over his body, isn't that obvious? I'm so glad he's the one that hit the ground first." Chara said as they twirled the knife in their hand. "I probably would have had a much harder time getting control over that Frisk girl… she's too innocent, too nice. This guy, though, he gets angry pretty easily. All I had to do was make him angrier than normal and add in a little bloodlust…" She trailed off for a second and smiled as she remembered something. "I got so much closer to controlling him each time he killed something."

"But… no one died." Sans pointed out, confused.

She pointed her knife at him with a wink. "That's what _you_ think." She said before throwing her knife again, right over his shoulder. She teleported to the knife when it was next to him and swung for his head, but he ducked to avoid it before counterattacking with his bone sword. He hit the human hard across the face before creating a bone below them that knocked them into the air. The human had little trouble backflipping in the air to recover before sending a massive barrage of knives down at Sans, who responded with his own mass of bones. With all the knives and bones colliding, it was hard to see if anything was going to break through, but a few knives did and just barely missed the skeleton, cutting into his jacket.

The monster tried to catch his opponent with a Gaster blaster as he landed, but the human saw it coming and quickly threw his/her knife into the ceiling and teleported to it. The human pulled the knife out of the ceiling and began to fall. Sans fired bones one at a time at them as they plummeted, and the human used their knife to deflect as many as they could. They missed one and it hit their right shoulder, leaving them open to another two that sent them to the other side of the hall.

The human slowly stood up and wiped some blood from their mouth as they glared at Sans. In another circumstance, the skeleton might be smiling back, but he wasn't smiling right now. Right now, he needed to kill this kid, before they started copying the one artifact ability of his that they haven't already copied at this point. He also didn't like that his bone attacks weren't piercing the human's body. If they had been, this fight would have been over, but they just kept bouncing off their body. He could see on their soul that he was doing damage, but not as much as he should have been.

Chara turned and looked at the bone wall behind her, listening for a moment to the sobbing Frisk on the other side. "I _hate_ that kid." Chara said before looking back at Sans. "She kept grounding him, kept making it so much harder to control him. As soon as I kill you, I'm killing her and moving on."

Sans's expression flashed with anger for a moment before he teleported and smacked the boy across the face with his weapon, knocking them to his right. He quickly teleported next to them again and knocked them to the left. Then he teleported again and knocked them back towards the center before teleporting behind them. He kicked them hard in the back while also hitting them with three bones that jutted out of the ground, sending them down the hall and into the air. He then teleported into their aerial path, riding another blaster skull. The human flew into the skull and bounced off. Just before they could start falling, bones shot out of the walls, the floor, and the ceiling, all extending right towards them. They got knocked around before finally settling, trapped with their limbs in awkward positions and just hanging there high above the ground.

The blaster that Sans stood on floated closer to the human entangled between the ridiculously long bones. Sans's face was level with theirs and he glared at the human, wishing that his bones would have just pierced them, no matter how bloody it would have been. He used the bone in his hand to knock the knife out of their hand and it plummeted to the ground.

"Killing you will be doing the world a service, but that doesn't change the fact that you caused this. I saw what you did, I saw how confused he looked when his hand reached out and touched the artifact. That was you! Because of you, I have to kill him and Frisk will never forget that!" Sans was understandably livid, even more so when Chara, not AJ, Chara smiled back at him. The skull floated a short distance away from the monster, and Sans raised his arm as the blaster started building up energy in his mouth. He pointed towards the human and the Gaster blaster fired.

The skull faded away and Sans teleported to the ground, only to see the human kneeling on the ground, holding the knife that was stabbed into the ground. "Hehehehe… did you really think that you got me?" Chara asked with a cocky smirk. They pulled their knife out of the ground and ran at him while raising their left arm. The skeleton saw the red ground below him, his opponent intended to catch him off guard after he dodged the knives that would jut out of the ground.

Chara's eyes widened when Sans suddenly teleported next to her with a open-mouthed Gaster blaster right in her face. She let go of her knife and teleported next to it as the laser fired, now holding her knife in her left hand. She spun around and slashed at Sans, who teleported high above her to dodge. She smiled her crazed smile and threw her knife up at him. She teleported next to it, ready to swing, only Sans wasn't there.

The skeleton had teleported back down to where she had just been standing, and she was now surrounded by blasters. One below her, one above her, and eight all around her.

"Dodge this." Sans said simply and snapped his fingers. The blasters fired, and the boy's body fell to the ground in a heap. He smiled for a moment, but his smile fell away quickly. "I keep saying it, but… I'm sorry, bud. I wish it didn't-" He was cut off when the human's body suddenly shot up and slashed at him, a red trail following behind the blade. He leaned back to avoid the sudden attack before sending a panicked barrage of bones at them that came from behind him, forcing the human to retreat back down the hall as their red trail blocked every single bone attack. Sans growled. "Why won't you die?" He complained.

"I got a little something called Determination, my friend." Chara answered with a mad smile before swinging their knife even though they were not even close to the skeleton. A wave of red energy shot out from their knife and flew at Sans, who teleported back to the center of the hall to avoid the sudden attack.

Then the human just started swinging. Again, and again, and again, they just kept swinging. Horizontal slashes, diagonal ones, vertical ones… Endless waves of red shot down the hall at Sans, who felt dangerous energy coming from each wave as they got close to him. He jumped, and leaned, and teleported, and sidestepped as the waves kept shooting out. After everything, especially that recent attack with the ten blasters, he was tired, and if he was using as much magic as the human had up to this point, he would have passed out. Humans had stronger souls though, so if they could just tap in to the magic within them, they could fight a lot longer than most monsters could.

He got tired of dodging and tried to counter with a few well-placed bones, but most of his attacks were easily destroyed by the red energy waves. He couldn't go much longer, he needed to figure out a way to end this. But what could he do? He shook his head. 'No.' He thought. 'Their soul is on the verge of breaking, I can see it. No matter how much power they have, I just need to get one last good hit on them, and this fight will finally be over.' He reached deep down and took some of the artifact's blue power and put it into the bone in his hand. He started teleporting past each energy wave, getting closer to his target by the second.

Chara knew what was coming, she knew that she couldn't let him get even one more hit on this body, or she would die, but it would be for real this time. She created a massive amount of knives that floated beside her, but rather than send them out, she had them all fly to her back, creating massive sharp wings made of knives. 'AJ is a fan of angels for some reason. Heh, I can work with that.' "I am the Angel of Death! I am the angel that will make the Underground go empty!" She shouted before laughing like a maniac.

She swung with one bladed wing and Sans ducked under the swing before counter attacking. She jumped back and to the right and swung with her other wing, but the skeleton jumped over it and swung down at her head. She jumped to the right again and now had her back to the rest of the hall. She saw Sans teleport in front of her and she knew she couldn't dodge this time. She raised her wings to take the hit for her, and they did. They shattered from the powered up bone sword, causing knives to fly out everywhere.

Sans couldn't help but smile. The tables had been turned and she was the one that would go down in one hit now. Though one thought stuck in the back of his mind. 'Where is the knife they always have in their hand?'

His weapon hit empty air as the human suddenly appeared at the opposite end of the hall. They dropped the knife readily and held up their hand towards Sans, as if preparing to use a- "All I have to do is kill you two! Then I will have all the power I need! Then no one will be able to stop me!" Chara shouted like a maniac. A massive red-tinted Gaster blaster appeared in front of them. "So just DIE!" They screamed.

'No no no no no no no no!' Sans looked behind him at the bone wall. It wasn't going to stop that large of a blaster, it was going to kill him _and_ Frisk. If they die, if Frisk dies at the hands of that much of that much power, there'd be no one left to stop Chara. He quickly raised his left arm and created a blaster of equal size. He took the bone in his hand and threw it into the blaster through the gap between the lower and upper jaw. He needed to put every last bit of energy he could into this blaster just to give Frisk a chance to survive the attack she won't even see coming.

The human and monster held their dominant arms outward and let out all the energy they had. Red and blue clashed and created a shockwave that shattered all the windows and blew open a wide hole in the wall. Despite being behind a bone wall, even Frisk was knocked down by the force. It took her awhile to stand up, and when the girl did, the bone wall had been shattered, letting her see the large amount of dust kicked up by the fight. She was hesitant to walk forward because of the thick dust.

Sans was breathing heavily as he stood over the human who was as weak as he was. He looked down at the boy and couldn't help but notice his eyes were brown again. "Sans…" The boy said weakly. The skeleton couldn't hide his confusion, that actually sounded like AJ's voice. Then he heard Chara laugh again, but this time the laughter was coming from his right. He turned and saw a girl in a green sweater laughing.

"Hahahaha! YES! The artifact's power has given me my body back! Finally!" Chara shouted before looking away from the corner she was in and looking at Sans. "Get ready to die.~" She sang, twirling her knife.

"Yes, but you used up all of the artifact's power that was in you. What are you going to do without those abilities you had?" Sans asked as AJ looked at the girl in confusion.

Chara's eyes widened as she realized the flaws in her plan. She had no relic power, she didn't have the boy's soul's extra power, she didn't have him hostage either… She had thought getting her body back was a good idea, and it still kind of was. In here defense, sans and Frisk was supposed to be dead by this part.

Sans smirked before throwing his right arm out towards her, causing three bones to pin her against the wall. AJ looked away quickly, but he couldn't unsee one of the bones piercing her skull. "Jesus Christ, Sans…" He managed to say. He looked up in fear as the skeleton now loomed over him. "Sans… please…"

Just as the dust started to clear, Sans appeared in front of the girl. "Ah!" She cried out.

"Sorry about that, kid." The skeleton apologized, avoiding the human's eyes. "But it's okay, it's over now, he doesn't have the artifact's power anymore. A certain _someone_ used it all up." 'I didn't even know an individual _could_ use it all up. Must be a human thing.'

"Really? So we can go on now?" Frisk asked.

The monster held out a boney hand in front of him. "Not quite. You don't want to go any further right now." He said, looking over his shoulder for a moment. He saw in his peripheral vision the look Frisk was giving him. She was wondering if he really still killed AJ. "I'm really sorry that I had to do this, but don't worry so much, things will be easier for everyone next time." He waved his right arm suddenly.

*Crack* *SHATTER*

* * *

 **I was THIS freakin close to giving sans bone wings but decided I was going too far and needed to know when to stop. XD**

 **Hope some of you enjoyed this chapter that was literally a fight scene. AAAANNNND**

 **I hope you all have a great week!**

* * *

 **Now for those review responses. I can actually find the words to say when I do it like this.**

 **Razaraga: Thank you for letting me know! :3**

 **DeathTheDude: Shut up I'm not cool you're cool!**

 **Also, *you're. I'm sorry I'm a writer I really can't help it.**

 **Also I have gotten negative reviews already, it's just that they were people hiding behind being a guest to be pointlessly hostile so I deleted the reviews.**

 **dem bones: I've been around long enough to know there's gotta be at least one more "professional" review when I talk about reviews, and here we have it. What you've said definitely makes sense, and I can really tell that these are the conclusions you've come to from the things you've seen. You may be right on most or all of your points. And I totally understand people who feel there is no need to say anything because they feel it's redundant, I feel the same way sometimes.**

 **I'm not gonna be asking for advice though. I know very well that I could improve, and that I could be more professional with my writing, but the thing is… I also kind of can't. Writing storyboards and getting lines and scenes prepared ahead of time and stuff like that is, well it's really not me, it's not how I do things. I just make stuff up as I go with a few things thought up ahead of time every once and awhile. If I tried to do it any other way, then I would never get anything done. I only get things done by setting a deadline for myself, to have a chapter done and ready to post by Saturday every week. Taking things slow and planning ahead just doesn't work for me.**

 **There are other ways I could improve to,o for sure, but I'm not a professional writer, I'm not trying to be, and I'm not trying to act like one either. I am not out to become a real writer, I'm not out to improve my "skills", I'm just writing to have fun and maybe give people something that they enjoy. I am perfectly fine with how I write at this time, so I will not ask for help or tips or anything like that. I hope that didn't seem rude or anything, I'm not trying to be… I am not ungrateful for the offer, I'm simply declining and explaining why. Though you seem like the kind of person that would understand that, so maybe I shouldn't worry.**

 **Darktyler27: Thank you for the encouragement. :)**

 **ColonelStriker: Eeeey I got that reference! Also thank you very much for the kindness.**

 **Maronmario: BUDDY! :D Thank you!**

 **kyuuryuu13: Thank you. I'm glad you liked that bit. XD It was one of the few details in my story that I actually thought of at least a bit ahead of time. I think it was about when we got into hotland that I started thinking about the final fight with Mettaton and decided I wanted to have him get captured and give Frisk her own big moment in the spotlight. Then after getting much closer that that point in the story I suddenly thought of Mettaton capturing him specifically so he could use his cat side for ratings and I was like THIS MUST HAPPEN.**

 **Alex The God Killer: Thank you for the reassurance.**

 **The reassurance that I've gotten many times over now because** _ **so many reviews**_ **.**

 **Minerva Arhedes: Thank yoooooouuu! :3**

 **And I'm going to assume that first part was just an odd joke because I'm sure you know that is not what I meant.**

 **Skyrrow: Yeah it only makes sense really. I have all the chapters done already, and we're approaching the end, so I might as well give some larger chapters and more frequent updates as we approach the end.**

 **.**

 **Believe it or not, all these reviews brought a stupid smile to my face when I read them. I didn't expect so many responses and I really appreciate you all, seriously. I'm glad to know before the end that people are still enjoying this, that's all I wanted to know. Once more I hope you guys and everyone else that has read this far into my fic has a very good day. You guys are awesome.**

 **Like I said, the finale will be posted a week from now, on a Saturday. I will not post it earlier than that.**

 **Also, find a comfy position and some free time. That last chapter coming Saturday is… oof.**


	24. The Ancient Artifact

… **Okay I was gonna be mysterious with this surprise post and not have an author's note at the start, but I kind of have two things to say that I figure I should say here.**

 **First… I kind of have this other writing style that I almost never use. It's a style with minimal dialogue. This chapter was written that way. PLOT TWIST.**

 **Two: I had no idea there was an anime called Needless till now. No, I'm not gonna watch it.**

 **Anyway, here you go!**

 ***Wiggles fingers* Mysterious noises!**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.24

* * *

Gaster was widely known as the greatest scientist ever to exist in the Underground. He built the CORE, after all, the thing that powers the Underground and everything in it. That includes the puzzles, their wacky defense system against humans.

He is known as the greatest scientist ever to exist in the Underground… and yet… they don't even know about what he considered to be his three greatest experiments.

Two of them were skeletons… The third…

…was what he did with them.

He knew the CORE was certainly the most important thing he had ever done… but still… things get lonely down in the Underground…

…he just wanted to know what it was like to have sons.

Papyrus and Sans.

His sons.

He had artificially created monsters. Because of this, they had no magic abilities of their own. He noted this issue as something he had to deal with immediately. He couldn't keep them secret forever, they would need to see the rest of the world they lived in. They would get made fun of if they had no magic of their own. He loved his sons, he enjoyed his time with them, he didn't want them to have any difficulties with other monsters if he could help it.

Being a scientist, he figured he might as well do something meaningful with this dilemma.

You see, there was one thing Gaster always wondered about. "Why can an individual only get one power from the ancient artifact?" He removed the relic at the most opportune time, when no one would notice it missing, and performed tests on it. He knew he would never be allowed to mess with something so important to monster culture, but he needed answers, he needed to know why!

His tests gave him no such answers. The only thing they showed was that any attempt to receive a power the normal way would fail. He already had one power, and it wouldn't give him another. The only theory he had was that the relic did this on its own. That was the only way to explain why you couldn't get more than one power from it, it must be doing in on purpose! Keeping them from getting another power… But why? Did it know something bad would happen if they took any more of its power? Was it protecting them?

Dr. Gaster's tests never showed any sign of sentience. It didn't have a mind of its own, as far as he could tell. He wouldn't accept defeat, he needed answers!

While trying to understand the relic/artifact, and constantly moving it back and forth between his lab and its resting place when no one was looking, another side project he had been working on was finally complete.

He had been wondering how he could give his sons their own magic abilities, but he had also been wondering… Why didn't Sans and Papyrus have their own magic to begin with? It was simple really, Gaster had made a mistake. Even the greatest minds make mistakes, after all.

You see, monsters are made of magic, and monsters convert their magic into magic they can use. Gaster had made a simple mistake when creating his sons, and so they can't turn the magic inside them into combat magic.

Gaster became curious, and performed a test on himself to compare the combat magic currently inside him to the artifact energy inside him. The energies showed up on a bar on one of his monitors. For Sans and Papyrus, half the bar was filled with white energy, and it was the same for him. This was the normal magic within him. A quarter of the bar filled red, representing his combat magic, which his sons did not currently have and could never have. Another quarter of the bar filled light blue, that was the artifact's power in him, which Sans and Papyrus also did not have.

This was what had shown him that his sons cannot create combat magic. Gaster knew what he was going to do now. This was where his job as a scientist came into play. This was where he did something meaningful with the dilemma. For him, the whole bar filled up. For his sons, there was still half the bar to fill, half of their potential reservoir of magic energy to fill. Gaster wondered… could his sons have the potential to take more of the artifact's energy, and therefore gain a second ability?

This was an unfortunate sign though. Normal monsters may never be able to gain secondary abilities. But, the doctor would never know until he found out. These tests may give him some insight, they may make the idea a reality.

He soon found out, that the reservoir of magic energies had nothing to do with it. It was actually much more confusing.

Gaster had them touch the ancient artifact, and it flashed blue for a moment.

The ability Sans gained was the ability to throw people around with his left hand. A strange glow would appear in his left eye and a wave of his hand allowed him to move people around, specifically throw them around wherever he felt like throwing them. He had to be warned to be very careful about that power, or he could hurt his brother, his father, or someone else when he finally let them out.

The ability Papyrus gained was blue attacks. This surprised Gaster a bit. The blue attacks that some monsters used normally were now the relic power that Papyrus had gained. Unfortunately, small Papyrus was not very good with his fists, so these blue attacks would not be very effective.

Gaster put them through his energy measurement tests again. A quarter of their bars had filled with blue, with the ancient relic's power. Gaster found it a bit odd that the relic didn't just give them as much of its power as they could take, but simply had them touch the relic again. Nothing happened.

Gaster was frustratingly confused. Now it didn't seem that the relic was unwilling to give more than people could seemingly take, but it simply seemed stingy with its energy, even though his tests showed that it constantly produced more energy!

Thankfully, after all his tests with the artifact, he had a very good understanding of how its energy flows and works. He could have tried to siphon its energy out of it, but worried about the potential consequences. He had no idea what that could do. For all he knew, he could damage it, or it might give out too much energy and he worried if that would be dangerous. What if he opened a bottle he couldn't close?

There was another source of the artifact's energy though.

Himself.

It was time to make himself a real part of these experiments. If the relic would not give his sons more of the power, he would simply take some of its power out of him. He hooked himself and his sons up to a machine he designed in secret, and some of the artifact's energy flowed out of himself and into his sons through this machine.

It worked.

Sans and Papyrus could now create Gaster Blasters. His artifact power was now their own as well. Clearly the energies a monster was given contained their artifact ability.

The kids didn't actually use them as weapons though, they liked the skulls too much and often created them just to cuddle or play with them. Gaster took many a picture of those adorable moments.

Then the weirdest thing happened. One day the brothers were playing, and Sans used his original power to throw Papyrus around. He threw him near the artifact, and as the younger brother got back up, he accidentally touched the artifact. Gaster saw, with his own eyes, the ancient artifact flash blue. It had given Papyrus another power. The doctor was quick to pick up the artifact himself, looking over it as if hoping to physically see a reason for why it had done this. Not only that, but he was hoping that touching it would gain him another power, it didn't.

Suddenly a bone flew over his shoulder and pierced the wall. Gaster turned and saw Papyrus was using another ability he had never seen before. Bone attacks. Not only that, but he combined them with his blue attacks to create blue bone attacks. His son now had three abilities thanks to the energy of the artifact. One was put in him artificially, and two were given to him by the relic.

The doctor was quick to get Sans to touch the relic, and it worked for him as well. He gained the ability to teleport, and he loved using it to prank his father and younger brother.

Gaster wondered why this had happened. He gave them his power artificially, and suddenly they could get another power? Did they trick the relic somehow by doing that? It didn't seem to work more than once, as when they touched the artifact again, nothing happened. The doc had a random theory that this was a pattern. Give them a power artificially, and then they could get another from the relic. It was an odd idea, but he needed to try it to be sure.

He hooked his sons up to his machine. Sans was given Papyrus's bone attacks first. While he was at it, Sans was given Papyrus's blue attacks, but something was off. The blue attacks only worked half the time and barely worked when they did. Sans was reluctant to use them. He tried reversing their positions. It didn't work at all. Papyrus wouldn't take Sans's original ability or his teleporting ability. Gaster grew frustrated and desperate, afraid that his work was starting to fail. Sans had been given an ability artificially again, so he was told to touch the artifact again. The ancient orb sputtered blue off and on, and if it was confused.

The doctor tried every test imaginable, ones that he'd done, ones that he hadn't done yet, even going as far as to take the artifact's energy out of one of his sons temporarily to examine it. This test was the only one that told him anything at all. He siphoned all the energy out and put into a large glass sphere, and to his surprise, the energy broke off inside the container, turning into three balls of floating blue mist. One was larger than the other two, and the smaller two were close together on the opposite side of where the larger sphere floated. He became curious and carefully put only the larger cluster of energy back into Papyrus and requested he use his magic.

The only magic Papyrus could use was his blue attacks. Gaster gave him the rest of his energy back and the smol skeleton was happy he was able to create the blasters again. Now Gaster was left to wonder what that meant, because he was out of ideas and nothing else had given him any information.

The original energy that Papyrus had been given was larger, what did that mean? Gaster wondered if the relic gave a specific part of its energy, maybe something different. Maybe it was some sort of marker that said "don't give this individual any more energy" and maybe putting in energy artificially had let them get past the artifact's detection and let it give them more power? Maybe the newer energy is the one that the artifact notices and that's how they got around it, because it didn't notice the marker energy? Maybe Sans had so much of its blue energy concentrated in him that it didn't know what to do and stopped giving him powers altogether? Maybe it does have some sentience and it caught on to what they were doing?

With what info Gaster had, he could not come up with any real answers, just random ideas that made little sense. He wasted away trying to understand, eventually growing impatient and trying to take energy out of the relic itself to put it inside him.

No one ever saw him again.

* * *

It's a shame Gaster didn't know about the last ability that the relic gave to sans. The artifact made a mistake and gave the child skeleton an ability to be feared. He only knows of the resets because of the mistake that the orb had made back when he was still a young skeleton.

Now sans was left with a question. How did the human copy other artifact abilities? He still didn't know.

He had seen their fight with Undyne, he had seen the glow in their eyes. Her relic power had activated, her Determination had started to shine through, and then it did for him as well. The fight with Muffet though, that had shown that they didn't need to use their powers for the human to be able to replicate them. How did he do it? He couldn't have more than one power, could he?

That speed was clearly his artifact power, the skeleton could sense it. Having so much of its energy in him allowed him to sense it after all. Sans started to have an idea. If Chara's soul was inside him, maybe the soul kept its own power as well? Maybe he touched the relic, and it gave both souls one ability. If so, is copying other abilities Chara's power? What were those waves of red soul energy then? Just her own special power? Or, did the two souls somehow create a third ability?

In the end, he had no way to know. The boy's power was gone now, and Chara's soul no longer rested inside him. He no longer had what he needed to perform any tests, he could only wonder. 'Why do humans have to make this all so complicated?' He wondered. He had to note that the ancient artifact wasn't making things easy either. Though, at the same time, there was a property of the relic's power that made things quite simple as well.

If you used enough of the relic's magic to kill something, the magic's properties would wipe any magical energies out of that being. Even if, somehow, the being was to come back after death, or, even if time were to reset, their power would still be gone. That is how powerful the artifact was. It would take a massive amount of its power to negate the effects of a powerful determined soul with a lot of magic, but it is very much possible.

The ancient artifact is so sacred to monsters because of that. When it was found long ago, it gave people its energy, and they used the abilities they gained, they used its energy, to burn away dark, evil energies that existed in the Underground before them. They didn't truly understand back then, and they still don't even now. It's not some holy relic, it is not some pure thing that allows them to purge all evil. They will never know what it really is though. They probably won't even ever realize that it simply purges all energies, good or bad doesn't matter.

Chara brought herself back with the artifact's magic, so she was basically made of its energy. So killing her with his own abilities… in a way, it removed her from existence. She was gone now. The skeleton couldn't pretend not to feel a bit bad about that. Unfortunately, it was necessary. It was the only way to free the human from her. Killing him also removed the potentially volatile magic of the relic, so truly, his job was done now.

After talking to the humans again, he walked away, wondering what they would do, what Asgore would do.

Would the humans leave the Underground?

Would all of monster kind leave the Underground?

Or, would that kid somehow make it happen? Could Frisk's wish come true? Could everyone go free without dying?

Sans wasn't holding his breath. He may have given him advice to try what seems impossible in order to get the best possible result, where everyone was happy, but that didn't change the fact that it was still highly unlikely that they would manage. Regardless though…

…The future of the whole world depended on what was going to happen in that room.

* * *

 **You probably think this is totally ridiculous, right? NO. You have NO IDEA how ridiculous this is! LET ME TELL YOU.**

 **This entire concept au? With the orb giving powers and all that? This entire chapter with Gaster that more-or-less explains it all while leaving some things open? ALL OF IT was created just so the fight in the judgment hall would make a lick of sense. I thought of that fight back when I was making chapter two or three, and then I wrote it after four. Then after that, I thought up this whole AU to explain it all. The fight came first, then how it all worked afterwards. THAT'S how ridiculous this is! XD It was all created purely to explain a single fight. Who knows though? Maybe I'll make something more out of this someday? Or maybe I'll just bring it up again in something else. Not like I know the future. *Shrugs***

 **Have a good day, and thank you for putting up with my ridiculousness for all this time. XD**


	25. Something Ends, Something Begins

**14500+ WORDS!?**

 **Yes.**

 **Have fun with that!**

 **Also HOLY CRAP WE REACHED 100 FOLLOWERS BEFORE THE END! THAT IS ABSOLUTELY AWESOME! I thought there was no way I would reach 100 at the end of this! Guess there really is a first time for everything.**

 **I hope you enjoy the finale!**

 **(There will be a point where you will have two options for background music. If you actually bother with that, I have to suggest the one that isn't part of the Undertale OST, because that is the one I listened to while writing that part. It's your choice though)**

* * *

ProtectorTale Ch.25

* * *

(Undertale – Undertale OST)

They reached light and were greeted with a strangely familiar sight. A cozy little house inside the massive castle, and it looked identical to Toriel's.

"Toriel?" The girl said as she walked towards the house with a confused stare.

"She's not going to be in there." The boy said certainly.

"DETERMINATION!" She suddenly shouted excitedly before running in.

"Whoa, what the-"

The girl stopped before she entered. She let out a shaky breath and calmed herself, trying not to think about the events that just happened. It was important to not dwell on what never actually happened. She turned around and smiled at her fellow human. "What is it?" She asked curiously. Her eyes widened at the sight of his soul. "Whoa!"

He looked down at his chest and saw his soul, which he was so used to seeing red, had turned a nice, light green. He was suddenly filled with really strong emotions. Nice, friendly, _kind_ emotions. He smiled brightly as these feelings filled up in his chest and he quickly walked up to the girl and picked her up to embrace her in a big hug.

"U-Umm… what's wrong? Did something happen?" She asked, incredibly confused.

"I feel like some weight I didn't even know about has just been lifted off my shoulders and I am just _really_ happy right now!" He answered before realizing what he was doing. "Oh! Sorry…" He said before putting her down. The moment he put her down though, the urge to hug the adorable kid again came back up. "Gah! I'm sorry! I just feel really good right now and I don't know why!" He exclaimed with a bit of a hop as he tried to control himself.

She smiled a bit. "Well, that's good. Why is your soul green though?" She asked, still confused.

"I have no idea!" He answered as he threw his arms up. "But it feels… right for some reason." He noticed. "I _knew_ a determined soul made no sense for me!" He exclaimed. "Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to say that, actually, it might change back or something."

Frisk smirked in amusement. "Well come on! Let's go inside!" The girl said before heading in excitedly.

"Alright, alright, wait up!" He requested with a chuckle as he caught up with her.

The inside was just as familiar to them, and looked a lot like the inside of Toriel's house.

"Wanna see what the room looks like here?" She asked.

"The room?" He repeated.

"You know, our room!" She answered, pointing towards the first door in the hall.

"Oh! Sure!" He answered and they walked up to the room they knew as their own in another place. They opened the door and found that even this room was incredibly similar. "Dang! This place is nearly identical!" He noted. "Except they actually have a second bed here!" He complained, getting a laugh from the child.

There were a few other small differences, like the picture frame having a picture in it, a drawing of a flower on the wall, the dust covering the toys in the toy box, and the two present boxes on the floor that stood out from everything else.

"What's in these?" The girl asked curiously as she opened one of them up. "A knife?"

"Okaaaay, let's not let the kid get near the knife, eh?" AJ said as he quickly put the cover back on the box and picked up said box so he could stuff it on top of the dresser.

"I could just jump up there you know." The girl pointed out.

"Yes, but I'm making it clear that you shouldn't take that. Besides, these are probably presents for someone else." He explained.

"Can we at least _see_ what's in the other box?" She asked.

"I see no harm in looking." He responded with a shrug, so she opened the box and saw a heart shaped locket inside.

"Whoa… Cool!" She exclaimed.

"I don't know about the knife, but this would definitely be a good present for someone." The teen commented.

"It's cute actually. I want one!" She said before putting the lid back on the box.

"Heh. Well, maybe we can buy one from somewhere." He said as he walked back out the room. "I'm guessing you want to check the rest of the place?"

"Yep!" She said simply as she left the room as well and walked towards the next rooms. They passed by a room with a sign saying "Under Renovations" on it and entered the one other room they could enter. The king sized bed was immediately apparent, as well as the large clothes sticking out of the dresser. The girl walked up to the journal on a nearby table. "Asgore thinks it's a nice day today." She noted.

"Sounds like an optimist." AJ commented with a chuckle as he grabbed at one of the sweaters in the dresser to see what was written on it. " 'Mister Dad Guy' ?" He read with a bit of a laugh.

"What?"

"This sweater." He responded and turned it so she could read it more clearly. She laughed a bit as well. "Alright, I'd like to leave. I feel bad snooping like this." He admitted.

"Aww. Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yes!" He answered with a strong nod.

She let out a sigh that said she was conceding. "Okay." She said with a nod before walking out.

He stepped out and saw her turn left, towards the dead end of the hall. "What are you-" He trailed off as he followed her out and realized she had walked up to a mirror on the wall. He walked over next to her and looked at it as well. It had been a long time since they'd had a reflection of themselves to look at. They'd… been in better shape. But, they still couldn't help but smile.

"You know... after everything we've been through… we're still here." Frisk noticed happily.

"We're still us." He added in agreeing tone.

Their smiles grew a bit as they let out a happy chuckle.

*Clink* "Oh!" The girl exclaimed as she felt her foot hit something when she turned to walk back down the hall. She bent down and picked up a key. "We need this!" She answered before holding her hand out for him. "Come on!"

"What do we need it for?" He asked in confusion as they walked back down the hall.

"Didn't you see the chain? Here." She asked and pointed to the padlocked chain as it came into view.

"I was too busy following you." He responded before looking at the chain and the stairs. "Can't we just jump over the rail?"

"Where's the fun in that?" She asked with her cheery smile. "We're looking around anyway, so we might as well be fair."

The teen read the note on the chain. "Alright then. To the kitchen!" He exclaimed.

They walked into the living room and noticed it was also identical to the one in Toriel's house. The only difference was that the reading chair seemed to go unused.

"I really miss Toriel…" Frisk admitted sadly.

"Yeah, this is making me miss her too." AJ said sadly before turning and looking down the hall. "It would be really nice if she just came through the door right now and we were really back in that ruined city, happy and at home."

The child thought for a moment before speaking up. "Why don't we go find Toriel after we free monsters?"

He smiled back. "That sounds like an awesome idea!" He agreed.

"Great!" She cheered. "Then let's get that key and free the monsters!" She ran in and ran back out of the kitchen before he could even follow, and he chuckled at her enthusiasm and excitement. They unlocked the padlocks together and silently hoped this plan of theirs would work.

They relived the sad memory of leaving Toriel as they followed the path out of the castle structure. They were back out on the path outside the castle once again, and they froze in shock at the view below them. It was clearly another portion of the city, but that wasn't what shocked them. It was the massive crowd of monsters below them.

Monsters that they had seen and monsters that they hadn't stared up at them, and their voices rang out in a chorus as they told the humans a story.

"A long time ago, a human fell into the ruins… Injured by its fall, the human called out for help. Asriel, the king's son, heard the human's call. He brought the human back to the castle. Over time, Asriel and the human became like siblings. The King and Queen treated the human child as their own. The Underground was full of hope.

Then… one day… the human became very ill. The sick human had only one request, to see the flowers from their village. But there was nothing we could do. The next day… the human died. Asriel, wracked with grief, absorbed the human's soul. He transformed into a being with incredible power. With the human soul, Asriel crossed through the barrier. He carried the human's body into the sunset, back to the village of the humans. Asriel reached the center of the village. There, he found a bed of golden flowers. He carried the human onto it. Suddenly, screams rang out. The villagers saw Asriel holding the human's body. They thought that he had killed the child. The humans attacked him with everything they had. He was struck with blow after blow. Asriel had the power to destroy them all. But… Asriel did not fight back. Clutching the human… Asriel smiled, and walked away. Wounded, Asriel stumbled home. He entered the castle and collapsed. His dust spread across the garden.

The kingdom fell into despair. The king and queen had lost two children in one night. The humans had once again taken everything from us. The king decided it was time to end our suffering.

Every human who falls down here must die.

With enough souls, we can shatter the barrier forever. It's not long now.

King Asgore will let us go. King Asgore will give us hope. King Asgore will save us all.

You should be smiling too.

Aren't you excited? Aren't you happy?"

…

They paused as the crowd grew strangely silent. They turned away before stopping as they saw a single Froggit in front of them.

"You're going to be free." It said before hopping away.

"Oh, they can talk too?" Frisk commented, a bit surprised.

"Well… that was… a really sad story." The older human eventually said. "And they all came here to… tell us that before the end?"

The girl stood out near the edge and looked out at the city below. "I think that… they think this is going to end in a bad way… But, we'll show them another ending, a better one." She said and turned to smile at her friend.

He smiled back and nodded. "I don't know if it's because of my new soul, but I feel nothing but confidence. I'm sure we can do it!" He said certainly.

* * *

(The music ends)

With the two of them smiling brightly and full of confidence, the red and green soul stepped into the hall, and turned to see a familiar face.

"Sans? I didn't except to see you here." AJ said in surprise before smirking. "Wait, let me guess. Big reveal, you're the king?"

The skeleton's serious stance faltered before he burst out laughing. "HAHAHAHA! Oh, that's a good one, bud! Me being the king!? Pfft! As if!" He smiled at them before covering his smile and turning away. "Damnit AJ, I was gonna be serious here and you ruined that. Give me a second. Hehe."

"Sorry." The teen said with a chuckle and tried to get himself into a serious state as well.

Eventually the skeleton turned back with a more serious version of his normal smile. "So… can't help but notice that green soul of yours." He noted.

The human held the floating green heart close to him. He still felt the pain of the past, but for some reason he just felt happier than ever while holding it. He just had a strong urge to help someone and to make people happy. "Yeah… I don't suppose you know what that's about?" He asked.

"Well, I have no clue how your soul could change traits like that, but I do know that green means kindness." Sans answered.

"Kindness, huh? So that's why I feel this way…" AJ said to himself.

Frisk was hiding behind the boy, but she was making her suspicious looks very clear to Sans, who didn't show that he saw her looks at all.

"I've read that it might feel strange, but you shouldn't worry about the feelings you have. Your soul reflects the strongest trait about you, the thing that shines through more than anything else. So those feelings you have… they're you, they're who you really are deep down." Sans explained.

"If you say so. It still feels a bit weird, not sure it's totally natural." AJ commented.

"Humans having magic is a natural thing, it's just a long-lost art, you could say. It feels weird because it's new having magic show your soul trait, but it should feel natural again pretty soon." Sans said.

The older human nodded and there were a few moments of silence.

"So… what are you doing here, sans?" Frisk asked with a hint of a questioning tone.

"Well… I'm the judge." The skeleton answered simply.

"The judge?" She parroted.

"Yep. I'm here to explain a little thing to you. Magic has this tendency to make this into something akin to a modern video game, and well… anyway, it's time for you two to be judged." The monster explained before his smile vanished. "Judged for your every action, your every EXP that you've gained. You're probably wondering what that is. Well, it's an acronym, and it stands for Execution Points. It's a way of quantifying the pain you have inflicted on others. It and your LOVE are things that monsters can see when they enter a fight. LOVE, too, is an acronym. It stands for Level of Violence. When you kill someone, your EXP increases, and if it increases enough, your LOVE will increase, letting everyone know who you really are, what your capacity to hurt is. When you kill, you're able to distance yourself from others. The more you kill, the less you will hurt, and the more you'll be able to hurt others."

His kind smile returned. "But you two… you're both still at LOVE 1. Course, that doesn't mean you two are totally innocent or naïve, just that you kept a certain tenderness in your hearts. No matter the struggles or hardships you two faced, no matter how you defended yourselves, you both never killed anyone. You both always did strive to do the right thing… Even now, you two wish to save all of monster kind. Yeah, you guys never gained LOVE, but you sure gained love. Did that make sense? Maybe not…"

He paused for a moment. "But now… you're about to face the greatest challenge of your entire journey. Your actions here will determine the fate of the entire world. If things work out, the barrier can be shattered peacefully, and everyone can walk out happy. If something goes wrong, one of you may die. If that happens, Asgore will be able to destroy humanity. Are you still determined to take that risk?"

"Absolutely." AJ nodded.

"Yeah!" Frisk shouted passionately.

Sans smiled. "Well, if I were you, I would have thrown in the towel by now, but you guys didn't get this far by giving up. Nope, you guys have something called Determination. It may be a trait defined by red, but it is still something all humans have. Who knows? Maybe determination will get you through this? Maybe if you just hold on, and try with all your might to do what's in your heart, you two can get survive this, and get the best possible outcome." He wondered. "Alright… we're all counting on you, Frisk, AJ… so be careful alright? Even if you can't break the barrier with Asgore, I wouldn't mind having you both here to hang out with in the Underground." He said with a wink.

"We will." The girl said with a nod.

"Yeah, I promise we will." The boy said with a strong nod.

"Good luck." The skeleton said before vanishing right before their eyes.

"Alright I keep thinking that we're going to see the king and then we run into something else- I would really like to just see the king already because I'm so anxious that it's killing me!" AJ commented.

"I think we're really going to meet him this time. At least I hope we are." Frisk responded.

"Yeah, he did kind of make it sound like this was it, but let's just get going and find out." He said before he started jogging.

The two pairs of footsteps echoed as they jogged down the long hall before leaving it and finding more brick walls. They saw a sign saying "Throne Room" on the wall, and they couldn't help but feel their anxiety peak as they pushed the large doors open to the throne room.

"Oh? Is someone there?" Asked the large figure ahead of them, standing in a large field of yellow flowers. Rays of light from the surface shined through holes in the ceiling above them and bathed the area in beautiful light. Birds on the surface could be heard singing through the holes as well. "Just a minute. I've almost finished watering these flowers."

And there he was, the king, right there in front of them. There was no familiar house, no old friend, no story to tell, it was just him, the big monster that ruled over all the other monsters. He had the voice of a gentle giant, deep, yet calm and kind. He waved around his watering pail for a few more seconds before turning to them. They already could see his large horns, but now his white, furry face and big smile could be seen. Not only that, but he had very familiar goat ears hanging on each side of his head. The only thing making him look that different from Toriel, aside from stature, was his yellow hair, beard, and the crown on his head.

"Howdy! How can I…" He physically stepped back when he realized the two figures that stood before him were not monsters. "O-Oh…" The bright smile of his that they were only able to see for a moment was gone. He looked away from them.

"Hello, Asgore." The older human greeted politely, though he frowned, given the circumstances. This large figure was supposed to kill them, and the king was clearly not happy that they were here.

The King gave a weak, fake smile. "…I so badly want to say… would either of you like a cup of tea? But…" The smile fell. "you know how it is…"

"It doesn't have to be that way, though…" Frisk spoke up pleadingly.

"We don't want to fight you." AJ said, standing as straight as he could.

The large goat walked to his right a few paces. He sighed before turning to them with a smile. "Nice day today, huh? Birds are singing, flowers are blooming… perfect weather for a game of catch." He noted.

They could already tell the king didn't want to do this either.

"Asgore, we don't have to fight. We want to do this another way." AJ said.

Asgore turned to them, but he did not smile. "No… you know what we must do." He responded.

"I know what we _can_ do, but I also know that we can do something else!" AJ responded.

"We want to free the monsters!" Frisk spoke up.

The king turned away and cringed. "Don't say that…" He managed to say.

"We want to help you, we don't have to kill each other. Just let us break the barrier together." The teen requested. "With our souls and the ones you already have, can't we just break it together?"

"If that was an option… do you think I would have even considered killing a human?" Asgore responded quietly. The humans paused. "If that was an option… there would be six other humans here, standing beside you, and I would watch with a great big smile as you all broke the barrier together…" He said with a sad smile and tears in his eyes that betrayed his now stern expression. "The barrier was made by seven, but it can only be broken by one."

"If that's the case… then we'll just leave…" AJ said sadly. "We promised to protect each other, so… we can't do this. We'll just go back and-"

The human was cut off when Asgore suddenly revealed a red trident and threw it. Frisk froze with wide eyes as it flew past her and slammed into a switch on the wall behind them, shattering it and causing a massive gate to fall behind them.

The older human turned his head and stared at the gate for a moment, before turning back to Asgore with tears in his eyes and a pleading look. "Asgore… please… raise that gate… Don't do this… Don't make me…" He didn't want to say anymore, and the king turned away from him.

"There is something you need to see." He said before magically retrieving his weapon and walking away, into another room.

The humans followed sadly, and found themselves in an area not too different from the one they first fell in. They followed the king through this area and entered another room. There, they saw a strange chasm of light.

"This, is The Barrier. This is what keeps us all trapped underground." Asgore said. "This is also our destiny. An inescapable point in our lives, yours… and mine."

"Asgore…" The teen said as he glared at the back of the monster.

"We cannot escape our destiny." Asgore continued.

"Just let someone else fall down here!" AJ shouted. "I don't care if that's selfish, either! I'm not letting her get hurt!"

"Nine humans have fallen down here…" The king said before turning to them and smiling sadly. "And not one of them… have been cruel, or unkind." The smile went as quick as it came. "This will never get any easier, for anyone. It has to end… here. It cannot be delayed any longer."

"Please, Asgore! You really don't have to do this!" Frisk pleaded again as tears fell from her face. "No one else has to die! No one else has to get hurt! Please!"

The king could not bear to look at them. "As I said… this is our destiny. If you wish… I could… make your deaths quick…"

The taller human looked down as he clenched his fists. "After all this time… I really, really don't want to fight, and…" He pulled out his machete and looked up at the king defiantly. "I'm sorry, Asgore, but I can't let you do this." He looked sad as he said one last thing. "Asgore… if you do… win… can you do one thing for me? Please don't destroy humanity… they might deserve it, but… making so many people suffer isn't right, ever."

The king sighed. "I… will think on your request…" He said before pulling out his trident once again.

Frisk wiped away her tears and pulled out her stick and held it in front of her.

"This is it, then… Ready?" Asgore said.

Seven glass cylinders appeared out of the floor against the back wall. Six of them contained large floating hearts. Green, purple, blue, orange, teal, yellow… and one that was empty.

"Humans… it truly was nice to meet you both." The monster said with a smile. "Goodbye."

(Bergentruckung – Undertale OST)

A strange light shined into the room… It was twilight, shining through the barrier.

This was it, their journey through the Underground was at an end.

It seemed that there was no possible happy ending here.

…

But maybe there was.

As long as they stayed strong… as long as they stayed…

Determined…

Maybe they could end this fight peacefully, somehow.

That possibility, however slim, of making it through this without death….

Filled them with Determination.

(Asgore – Undertale OST)

(Or…)

("Undertale – Asgore – Remix" by "ElectricMudkip")

The king held his left hand out towards them, and three fireballs were created above his hand. He held his hand out and the fireballs flew at them. The humans sidestepped the attacks before running at him with their weapons ready. The king readied his weapon and swung it as they got in range, with Frisk sliding under it and AJ jumping over it and flipping forwards. He used his flip for momentum to swing at the king's right arm, but the monster pulled his shoulder back to avoid that before swinging that fist at the boy. He ducked under it while Frisk swung her stick at the king's leg as hard as she could, causing him to stumble forward. The teen used this chance to slash into the king's shoulder before jumping away from the tall king.

Asgore stood up straight again and turned around to face the shorter human. He lunged at her with his trident, but she jumped out of the way and let the weapon stab the ground instead. He swung his weapon, but she jumped over it and tried to swing her stick down on his head. He raised his arm and let his armor block the attack before batting her away. He quickly turned and shot a barrage of fireballs at the approaching human behind him, and the boy dove to the side to dodge the flames. Frisk jumped up at the king again, and the king turned to her and swiped her out of the air with his weapon, knocking her onto the floor. The girl quickly rolled out of the way as he tried to stab her.

The monster quickly turned to the human running at him again and fired a single fireball at him nearly point blank. The human flailed his weapon in front of him to stop the attack, but that didn't deter it and he was knocked down by it. Frisk jumped on the king's back and started wailing on him with her stick. He reached over his head and threw her onto the ground in front of him, but the other human was quick to attack him again. He swiped the teen with his trident, but it was blocked by the machete and the human held against the strength of the king, sliding only slightly.

He was surprised to find his body hadn't once moved on its own yet in this fight.

The king spun and went for a stab, but the boy ducked and deflected the weapon over him before slashing under Asgore's arm and jumping to the side. Asgore turned to face him, but heard Frisk jump up at him again. The king fired a fireball at the boy while turning and knocking the girl out of the air with his weapon. He found himself slashed across the back by the boy who had simply dodged his attack, and he spun around to bring his weapon down on him as if it was a hammer. The boy sidestepped it and slashed his hand, and the king recoiled back before he was hit in the back with a stick. He twirled his weapon above his head as he spun around before doing one large swing all around him that got the humans to step back from him.

He fired three fireballs at the boy before turning and doing the same to the child. Frisk was able to skillfully dodge them, and she needed to because Asgore rushed towards her. AJ dodged them as well, but he stumbled in doing so and only barely avoided the attacks. Asgore lunged at Frisk, who dove to avoid the trident. She rolled to a stand just in time to see the king's weapon turn blue before he swung it at her, and she stood her ground to let it pass through her. He quickly brought the weapon back as it turned orange and she ran at her opponent to avoid it as well. She jumped and tried to uppercut him, but he leaned back to avoid that before knocking her out of the air with his weapon. He shot a fireball at her, but a machete slashing across his back caused him to miss. He turned and saw the boy spin before attempting another slash. He batted the human away with his arm before turning to him.

The king tried to stab the boy once again, and once again the human ducked and parried the attack over him. The king was quick to release his grip with one hand and use a fireball point blank, and the human jumped to the side to dodge it. Asgore tried again to stab the human repeatedly, and AJ skillfully dodged four lunges at him before deflecting and counter-attacking. He swung his machete at the king's chest, but the king twirled his trident in front of him and knocked the blade away. The human continued and attacked again, but the king spun back and swiped the attack to the other side. The human let go of his blade and struck with the weapon on its string in an attempt to throw the king off, but the king caught the string with his trident and pulled the blade to the side. AJ pulled his weapon back and made it wrap around the king's arm before pulling it down.

Frisk used this chance to jump in and smack Asgore across the face with her stick as she landed next to him. She struck again and hit his stomach, causing him to lean forward and give her fellow human an easy target to punch Asgore as hard as he could. The monster grit his teeth as he built up fire magic in his hand and struck the ground, sending a wave of fire outward in all directions that knocked the humans away from him and left their hair singed.

The king of monsters raised his hand into the air and created a ring of fireballs before throwing the swirling ring at the humans. Frisk dove out of the way and AJ jumped over it, so the king began throwing more at them. Frisk ducked under the ring aimed at her while the older human took the hit as he landed and was knocked down hard. Even while in a daze, he was able to look down and see the sizable cracks in his soul, and he was filled with dread when he realized they had no way to heal themselves.

Frisk ran at the king as fast as she could. She ducked under another ring of fire and jumped side to side to dodge two more single fireballs before she was nearly in range of Asgore. He struck straight with his trident, but the child jumped over it and landed on his weapon. He threw the weapon upward, and she used this to fly into the air before raising her weapon over her head as she came falling back down. The older human forced himself up and realized the king would have an easy time hitting her as she fell straight down at him, and he tried to run towards them. He knew he wouldn't make it in time though, so he instead threw his weapon straight where he thought the king's weapon would be in a few moments.

The king stabbed upwards at the girl, but his weapon was deflected to the side just before Frisk could be stabbed by it, and she was able to bring her stick down on the king's head with a powerful strike. The king stumbled back from the blow before raising his head and swinging his blue weapon at the girl. She froze just in time for the attack to pass through her, but the moment she had a chance to move, the weapon was already coming back as a normal attack. She ducked under the attack and saw it was coming back as an orange attack, so she quickly ran away from it. It passed through her before coming back at her face as a blue attack, forcing her to stop. She turned around to see what the next attack was only to be smacked in the face with his weapon and knocked flat on her back. She opened her eyes and saw him about to stab her, so she quickly rolled away from him and stood up in time to spin around a fireball.

"Asgore… please…" Frisk pleaded. The king responded by bringing his weapon down on her like a hammer, and she raised her stick above her head and braced with both hands to hold her ground against him. "Stop… doing this…" She pushed his weapon to the side and rushed him. "And just LET US GO!" She shouted and struck him as hard as she could with her weapon. He barely slid back before swinging his weapon again. The tip of the trident slashed across Frisk's chest and she cried out in pain as she fell back. She turned and tried to crawl away from Asgore, but she heard him get closer and she turned around just in time to hold up her stick and block the tip of the trident. Her arms shook weakly against his strength.

Seeing her blood spilt, he became single minded in his focus. He reached out for her and tried to run, to get to her as fast as he could, but he could do no more than walk weakly. Suddenly, he felt energy build up in his chest, but what struck him for an instant was that he had never felt the energy before. It wasn't determination, and it wasn't the blue energy either. His mind barely had the time to notice that he hadn't used that blue magic this entire time before he felt the energy move on its own down his extended arm. A light green mist appeared from his hand before a burst of green energy shot straight towards Frisk. It hit her and burst into a few small green sparkles, and the girl suddenly felt her wounds disappear as her skin grew back in a second and sealed them. The massive cracks in her soul vanished. She was able to force the king off of her and jump away from him, and she turned around to see her fellow human staring at his hand in awe and confusion.

He tightened his hand into a fist as he felt himself fill with power, enough to overcome his pain and continue on. He was determined more than ever to end this fight without death, to beat this king and get the kid back to Toriel. After everything they'd been through, he now just thought it was stupid to ever leave the kind monster's home. Sans was right, they really should have taken what they had, but they were foolish enough to think they could find better.

He ran down the chasm with his weapon behind him. It wasn't anywhere near what speed he was able to reach with that blue magic, but that didn't matter. He stopped in front of the king and slashed downwards, and the king raised his weapon up to deflect AJ's attack. The human swung three more times and the king kept his weapon raised to block the blade, creating sparks. Frisk jumped onto the boy's shoulders before jumping above the king. Asgore raised his weapon and knocked the teen in the chin with the end of his weapon while using the point of the trident to swipe Frisk out of the air and into the ground. AJ moved to the king's right side and struck at him, and the king raised his arm to let the armor on that limb take the hit before backhanding the human away.

Asgore heard Frisk jump at him from behind, and he spun around with his weapon ready for a close range stab. He lunged, but the girl landed on his weapon and smacked him in the head with her stick before she was thrown off. He turned and threw a fireball at her before noticing the older human on his right. He swung his weapon around to catch the human, but the boy stopped his weapon with his own. The king tried to stab him, but the human deflected the attack away while standing his ground. Asgore tried three more times to stab the human, but the teen was shockingly standing his ground and deflecting each attack, not dodging it. He finally attacked with fire magic point blank, which got the human to dodge and step back from him.

The king turned and saw both the humans charge at him with a determined look in their eyes. He raised his weapon and pointed the tip of it straight at the ground. He stabbed his trident into the floor, blasting out a massive, continuing wave of fire that spread across the floor of the entire room and pushed the humans back. But they did not fall, they persevered and refused to be pushed back any further. The king eventually stopped his attack so the fire and dust could clear away, and the moment he did, the two humans jumped at him and swung as hard as they could, with magic trails following behind their weapons. The sword and stick crossed, creating an X of red and green magic that was left behind for a moment as their attacks connected and hit the king like a truck, physically pushing him back.

(The music ends)

He fell onto one knee and held himself up with his weapon. "Agh… so… that is how it is…" He said depressingly.

"It's over, Asgore. You lost, so stop this." AJ demanded as the two humans stood before the king.

"I… remember… the day after my son died." Asgore said. "The entire Underground was devoid of hope… The future had once again been taken from us by the humans. In a fit of anger, I declared war. I said that I would destroy any human that came here. I would use their souls to become godlike, and free us from this terrible prison. Then I would destroy humanity, and let monsters rule the surface in peace… Soon, the people's hopes returned. My wife, however, became disgusted with my actions. She left this place, never to be seen again.

Truthfully, I do not want war, I do not want power, I do not want to hurt anyone. I… just wanted everyone to have hope. But… I cannot take this any longer. I just want to see my wife… I just want to see my child. Please… humans… this war has gone on long enough… you have the power. The Barrier is… finicky… It will not accept combined strength, but if even one of you takes my soul… you will have enough power, and it will allow you both to cross, together… and leave this cursed place."

Frisk's eyes widened in surprise.

"Never."

Asgore looked up in shock.

"I will never kill you, or anyone down here, unless I have absolutely no choice." The boy spoke assuredly. "And the fact is, there is a choice here. We go back and live with monster kind, and live happily down here, with good people, instead of up there, with liars, heartless monsters, and corruption, among so many other things."

"After… everything I've done to hurt you… after all you've seen… you really believe you are better off here?" Asgore asked in confusion and awe.

"Absolutely!" Frisk answered with a smile.

Asgore smiled again. "Humans… for as long as you live here, I, as well as my wife, wherever she is, will take care of you as best we can." He promised. "We can… sit in the living room, telling stories… eating… butterscotch pie. We could be… like… a family."

The older human smiled back at the king and held out a hand for him to take.

Flowey's evil laugh echoed through the room. Frisk cried out in shock and terror. AJ looked down and saw a vine sticking out of his chest.

"YOU IDIOTS!" Flowey shouted. "You haven't learned a thing!"

" _NO!_ " Frisk screamed as her friend's soul was taken away and joined by the six other souls.

"In this world…

 _ **IT'S KILL OR BE KILLED!**_ "

…

Frisk was alone now. She now had to fight the greatest enemy they had ever faced, a god, and she was supposed to do it herself. By all means, she should have been destroyed, and she was. But… she _refused_ to disappear.

.

.

.

She recognized the figure in front of her. "A-AJ?" She asked hopefully.

"Just go away, Frisk. I didn't fall down a mountain so I can take care of some stupid kid…" He responded through the pixels.

She knew what she had to do here though, because she had already saved the others.

"Don't say that! Come on! Let's go!" She requested and grabbed his hand.

AJ seemed to be resisting remembering something. He pulled back from her. "Back off!" He said as he pulled out his machete and attacked her. She jumped backwards as she raised her stick and blocked his downward strike. He quickly swung at her side, and she blocked the attack and barely blocked the quick slashes that followed before jumping away from him again. "Just go away, Frisk… I just want to leave already, and you're making that difficult…"

"I can't let you leave. I can't break my side of our promise!" Frisk responded. "Do you remember our promise? I take care of you and you take care of me?" She asked softly.

He smiled in response before wiping his smile away and growling. "You don't understand what life is really like, kid! It isn't worth it!"

Frisk dove away from his blade and quickly hopped back up to deflect another attack from him. He swung at her legs and she jumped to avoid it. She raised her blade to block his next attack while she was in the air and she was knocked back by the force. She stood up and raised her weapon, but seeing her chance, she smiled at him.

"I'm really glad I met you, AJ."

The glitches vanished as his memories came flooding back, and he looked at her in surprise. "F-Frisk? What's going on?" He shook his head and smiled. "Forget it. Thank you, Frisk."

"You're welcome! I'll explain this to you someday, right now I gotta go save someone!" Frisk said and waved to him before walking away.

.

.

.

.

"Not everyone can be saved, Frisk… Just… forget about me, and go be with the people who love you."

"No."

"Take care of mom and dad for me, okay?"

"No!"

"And Frisk... don't blame yourself for this, please."

"No! NO! _NO!_ Please don't leave! WAIT!"

.

.

.

Eventually AJ woke up, lying on his back. His head was foggy and his vision was blurry, so he couldn't see where he was, he could only hear… something. He wasn't sure what at first, but it slowly became clear as he slowly figured out how to move his body again. He was hearing someone crying. He tilted his head to his right and saw Frisk, on her knees in the middle of the room they were in. She had her hands to her face, sobbing as tears ran down her cheeks and fell to the floor. He had never heard her crying before, but this… it was like she had lost someone.

He may not have known where he was or what was going on, but all that mattered at that moment was trying to comfort her. His kind side was just begging to get up and hug the poor girl. The moment he moved though, the girl looked over her shoulder and saw he had awakened. She didn't smile at the sight, but she looked relieved and she quickly got up and ran to him. She fell to her knees again and hugged him tightly before he could even get up, continuing to sob.

"H-hey, hey, Frisk… it's okay now. It's okay." He said softly, holding his hand to the back of her head comfortingly.

"I- *hic* I just lost a friend... *sniffle* *sniffle* and I don't know if I'll ever be able to see him again…" Frisk managed to say. She pulled her head up and looked him right in the eyes, ignoring her tears for the moment. "I… I need you to promise me something." She took two breathes. "I need you, to promise to me… that you will never ever leave me." She felt him go to respond, but she cut him off. "I know what you want to do, I know you don't want to be alive, but I promise that I _will_ find a home for us, and we can be happy, _you_ will be happy. Even if we can't find one with Toriel I _swear_ I will find a home for us! Please… I can't lose you too. I need you to promise it to me and mean it. Cross your heart, and promise me that you will stay." She begged.

He couldn't look at her. He turned his head away.

"Please!" She begged.

It was the one thing he was sure he would never be able to promise, and now she was demanding he do just that.

"Please, AJ! Please… please don't leave me…"

He grit his teeth and tears leaked out his eyes. "Goddamn it, Frisk!" He suddenly hugged her tightly. "Alright… alright… I-" He could not believe what he was about to try and say. "I promise… that I… w-will… never… leave you." Saying it once made it easier the second time. "I promise I will never leave you!" He could not believe he had just said that, he really couldn't. "I promise that I will never leave for as long as we both live!" He couldn't believe he was actually saying it in confidence, with certainty. "I promise that I will do everything in my power to stay alive for you!" He spoke with all his emotions flowing out and tears just kept flowing. "I promise I won't disappear as long as you promise the same!"

Frisk chuckled and let her tears flow as well as they both hugged each other tighter. "I promise!"

He could only imagine what had brought him to say that. He could only imagine why he said things he never wanted to say. He could only imagine, and the only thing he came up with was that his time with this child had changed him. Why else would he decide to stay in a pointless world all for some kid?

"You know…" He started hesitantly. "You're not gonna agree with me, but I'm just gonna tell you anyway. I really don't see a point to living a life in this stupid world of ours. People tell themselves things, give themselves excuses to live on.

They say things like 'Well, we're all gonna die some time, so let's have fun!' Or something like 'I wanna be able to say I lived a life worth living.' Or they might say that they want to live to prove that they can. Personally, I think they're all idiots, but I don't hate them for it or anything. They can fool themselves all they want, as long as it makes them happy. It doesn't affect me after all, why should I be angry at them? If that helps them live their life, that's fine…

But there's no reason, there really isn't! We could all just die and everything would go on without us, that's a simple fact! I thought long and hard about this, and I really have nothing to live for. Love? Not gonna happen. Family? My parents kicked me out, so I don't care about them! Friends? That's hardly enough in my opinion. I still have to get a job, so I can afford food, water, a place to live, and I'm honestly no good at anything. Having, like, one friend is not only nearly impossible for me, but is SO not enough. They'd, you know, have an actual life of their own. I'd just be a bother if they had to deal with my uselessness all the time.

There was just nothing in my future that seemed worth it! What was the point of life? I thought about where I could go, what I could do, what I wanted to do, and there was just nothing worth it! Nothing that I wanted to do, at all! I wouldn't be happy, at all, I'd just live a life of pure misery, so what's the point!? THERE IS NO POINT! I will never have a reason to live for myself, no, the only reason I could even _imagine_ having, is so someone else is happy. But why would anyone need _me_ to be happy?

 _And then I stumble upon you_! Well, we stumble upon each other, I guess. Anyway I find you, have to deal with you and these monsters and everything, and finally, at the end of it all… I realize that you have nothing, just like me. Took sans telling me to realize it though. Now, you're actually looking for something though. You're like everyone else, you have something to go for, something that would make you happy enough to be willing to keep living, and I just didn't have anything like that. I have no goals! I just figured I would find out what happened at this mountain! Do people one last service before I died! Because, no matter how much I hate people, I'm still too nice to just be mean to them all, no I always have to _try_ and help people, like the idiot I am! I just won't learn! Even before I die I still try to be useful and make people happy, or… something, even though no one wants me to help or cares anyway! Whatever!

The point is, you have a goal, but there's one thing that would ruin your goal... If I wasn't there with you. You, you jerk, you come along and decide you want to make _me_ happy, and you want to find a home with _me_ in it! Once again, not human, just saying, because if you were human, I wouldn't have ended up liking you this much, I wouldn't have cared about you enough to do this!

You are the nicest person I've ever met! You're nicer than any of these monsters, and they're AWESOME!" He said, laughing. "I, I. I…" He trailed off and quieted down. "I'm willing to stay alive to make you happy." He finally said. "I am willing to go through a pointless world if it means it makes you smile, and laugh, and be happy. I will never have my own goal to reach in life, my own thing to reach for, because there's no point, but I'm willing to help you reach yours. And, since yours includes me, I'm kind of stuck with you. I'm going to be stuck with you for a long time."

Frisk could only smile. "No wonder you have a kind soul. You really are, what's it called?... selfless! That's it!"

He let out a chuckle. "Don't romanticize it, I hate myself and have no interest in my own health, that's not anywhere near as good as being selfless."

"Yes, but even though you do hate yourself, which you shouldn't, you still do things for others." The girl said. "Like you said, you were trying to do one last good thing before you died. You protected me as much as you could through the whole Underground, because you thought it was best to get me to the surface, or even better, find a home for me."

"And… in that time, I met a lot of nice people, and grew to like you." He added. "You really are special, Frisk. I was sure I would never find someone like you, but I did. Someone that I care about enough to keep living, just to make sure they're happy." He shook his head. 'Special doesn't do her justice.'

"But I'll do everything I can to make you happy too! Like I decided back in Snowdin Forest, you care for me and I care for you. You only care about making others happy, but I won't let you go unhappy." Frisk said.

He could only smile at the girl. "Good luck with that." He said honestly with a nod.

The girl suddenly gasped with stars in her eyes. "We need to call the others!"

"The others? Who?" He asked for specifics as he let go of the girl so she could jump up.

"Everyone! The barrier's gone now!" She answered.

He blinked twice and stared at her in disbelief. "Wait, _what_?"

"I'll explain some other day! I'm calling Papyrus and Alphys and everyone and getting them here right now!" She said as she pulled out her phone.

"Humans?"

The humans looked up for a moment and saw a weak Asgore peek around the corner of the room with the Barrier.

"Why is the barrier gone?" He asked, incredibly confused. "And how did you both get here? Last I remember, you two had just defeated me, but spared me in the end."

"Hey, yeah, that's all I remember too! What happened!?" The boy asked his fellow human.

"I said I'll explain another day!" Frisk responded before someone finally answered her calls.

The confused males waited while the child called a few friends and requested they come over right now. With the help of the Riverperson, Toriel, Papyrus, and Sans joined Alphys and arrived in the room with the humans and the king. There was a great big mess of a reunion between them all. The humans reuniting with Toriel, Toriel and Asgore having an awkward meeting, the other monsters greeting and congratulating the humans, everyone learning that Toriel was the queen... Toriel also revealed she had planned to stop the humans before they got hurt by Asgore, and that she was actually on her way to do just that when the girl called her.

The mess of excitement, and happiness, and the awkwardness between the Dreemurrs, came to an end as they decided to step out and see the surface together. They stepped outside and walked near the cliff before them and gazed out at a beautiful sunrise. The light welcomed them, and the wind blew through their hair, or in some cases, fur.

(Respite – Undertale OST)

"Oh my..." Toriel said, in wonder.

"Isn't it beautiful, everyone?" Asgore asked the group.

"I don't think I've ever seen a real sunrise before, actually." AJ commented softly as he took in the view.

"Wow… it's e-even better than on TV. Way better! Better than I ever imagined!" Alphys exclaimed with a smile.

"How could you never take in a view like this before!?" Undyne asked in shock. "You guys live with this kind of stuff every day, don't you!? The sunlight is so nice… the air is so fresh! I really feel alive! I can't believe you live with this!"

"HEY SANS… WHAT'S THAT GIANT BALL?" Papyrus asked, confused.

"We call that the Sun, my friend." The shorter skeleton answered.

"THAT'S THE SUN!? WOWIE! I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M FINALLY MEETING THE SUN!" The tall skeleton exclaimed.

"I could stand here and watch this for hours…" The king said softly.

"I could too." Frisk agreed. "I didn't know these looked so beautiful."

"Yes, it truly is beautiful, is it not?" Toriel agreed as well. "But we should really think about what comes next."

"Oh, right." Asgore said with a nod before clearing his throat and speaking up. "Everyone… This is the beginning of a bright new future… A new era of peace between humans and monsters. Humans… I have something to ask of you. We need an ambassador, would either of you-"

"Yes! Absolutely!"

"Frisk!?" The boy shouted in shock.

"YEAH! FRISK WILL BE THE BEST AMBASSADOR!" Papyrus exclaimed.

"What!? NO!" The teen said.

"AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE THE BEST MASCOT! I'LL GO MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION!" The enthusiastic skeleton said before running off far faster than any of them expected.

Sans sighed. "I'll go get em." He said before walking in the direction of the path that hugged the rock wall of the mountain and went downwards.

"FRISK! What are you DOING!?" The teen asked, and the girl simply smiled brightly at him. "You can't be an ambassador!"

"Hurry up, slowpoke!" Undyne shouted at the skeleton, who continued to walk at the same speed. "Ugh. I'll get him!" She said before running off.

"Undyne! Wait up!" Alphys shouted as she ran off.

"Umm… should I do something, too?" Asgore asked.

The boy sighed since the girl refused to explain herself. He turned to the king. "Don't worry. Sans will get his brother." AJ said.

Asgore began sweating at the look Toriel was giving him. "Well… I'm going to follow and make sure!"

"W-Where'd he go!?" They heard Undyne shout in the distance. Seemed the skeleton finally decided to teleport.

"It seems that everyone is quite eager to set off." Toriel noted and turned to the humans with a kind smile. "Frisk… AJ… you both came from this world, did you not?" They frowned and nodded. "Hmm… but you both do not have a place to return to… do you? You said that you were on a journey to find a home. I… I have a question for you both. Would you… be interested in finding a home with me?" She asked hesitantly. "I would take very good care of you both, if you would allow me to."

The humans looked at each other and smiled. ""We want to stay with you."" They said at the same time before looking at each other again and laughing.

Toriel was too busy blushing to laugh. "Y-You two are quite funny. If you had simply stayed with me from the beginning, none of this would have happened. It is a very good thing you took so long to change your minds." They nodded in agreement to that statement.

* * *

"…Toriel, can you leave us alone for a bit?" Frisk asked politely after a moment.

Goat Mom nodded in understanding. "Of course! Private conversations with your fellow human, I understand." She walked away with the other monsters. "We will just be around the corner, waiting for you both!"

(Goodnight - Undertale OST …Best to find an extended version)

The two humans were alone now, sitting and looking out at the horizon and the sunrise. The boy then looked at her, confused and curious, while the girl's heart was pounding out of her chest.

"So… you want to talk about something?" AJ asked.

"I… need to tell you something." She said hesitantly. "But you have to promise that you will _never_ tell _anyone_!"

"Another promise, huh?" He then nodded. 'This must be serious.' "Alright then. I promise to never tell anyone."

The girl sat down and let out a shaky breath. A determined light appeared in her eyes and she calmed down. Her friend sat down next to her, and so she began. "I… lied to you. I have been lying and hiding things from you for a very long time."

He couldn't pretend he wasn't a bit surprised. "And you're being honest now?"

She nodded. "Remember when you mentioned save points, and the HUD?" He nodded. "Well… I… I've been able to save, and I've had a HUD, ever since we fell." She stared out at the horizon, she couldn't bear to look him in the eyes. "I've had a bit of a… menu I guess, popping up in front of me all the time. I didn't make up names for monsters, I knew them from the moment I saw them… I've seen more than I ever should have… and I have felt more than I ever should have… but I can never forget any of it."

"Wait, so… you saved things like this was a game? You could load, then?" AJ asked.

She nodded once again, still not turning to him. "You kept… killing things, mostly by accident, and I would then have to load and try to fix things so you wouldn't kill the next time. Things seemed to change on their own though… Most of the time I didn't even need to do anything and things would turn out alright next time. I… I've had a fight button, an act button, an item button, and a mercy button in front of me whenever we fought something. I though you wouldn't believe me if I told you about any of this at first, but mostly I didn't want you worrying about me, because I've felt what it's like to die… I've… seen you die before."

For a moment her friend was shocked by this, but his expression quickly became a concerned one. "Seriously? Oh my god I'm so sorry, Frisk."

"That's it! That face!" Frisk exclaimed when she saw his expression. "I didn't want to see that face on you! I didn't want you to worry!" She took a moment to breathe and relax and she looked away from him again. "A monster surprise-attacked us in the Ruins. It knocked you down and killed me before you could do anything about it. I woke up at the last bright star that I had seen, and you acted like nothing had happened." She let out a humorless chuckle. "All the times I've been saying 'determination' is because whenever I found a glowing star, I felt some uncontrollable urge to say it come over me."

"Oh, so that wasn't just your catchphrase?" He asked.

The girl shook her head. "No, but I made it my catchphrase so you wouldn't think anything of it. *Sigh* Dealing with my parents made me get really good at lying and playing things off." She said depressingly. "Anyway, we made it to Toriel's house and we were happy for a bit. Then I woke up and couldn't find Toriel. I got scared and reset back to when she was still around, and then everything was fine again."

 _Flowey looked a bit surprised for a moment before chuckling. "Heh. I've been there, buddy." He used the sharp vine to push the kid's head up. The human's brown eyes stared at his own. It wasn't a blank stare, it was… almost an uninterested stare. "Fine. I'll make this quick." Before the vine struck, the boy's eyes widened with pure rage and he tilted his head, the vine cutting his cheek. Flowey flinched when he saw his red eyes glaring at him. "Wha… C-Chara?" In his moment of surprise, Flowey had loosened the vines, letting the human pull out his machete and destroy the vines. The human struck with his blade._

"Then we went to say goodbye to Toriel. We were sad and quiet all the way over, but then you weren't there when I walked up to her. Toriel ran downstairs and I followed her until we found you, standing over a broken flower... Something felt wrong with you, and I got scared, so I reset, hoping you would feel better again. This time I tried to talk a little bit with you, and this time you seemed better and there wasn't a broken Flower after you ran. We got out into Snowdin Forest, and met sans. We had fun for awhile, then you killed an Icecap monster when it tried to crush you with ice. I reset- sorry, reloaded, and we never met another one. D-Dogamy and Dogaressa killed you… so I reloaded again. Greater Dog trampled you to death…" She said, and her voice wavered the way ones voice would just before they started crying, but she refused to cry. "Once we spared that one, we spent a night at sans and Papyrus's house." She chuckled at the memory before frowning. "But… you killed sans once while we were there."

"I did? What happened?" The boy asked.

"I don't know!" The girl exclaimed. "You both were talking by yourselves, but then you both started arguing all of the sudden. You both were yelling at each other and when me and Papyrus ran in to check on you, you lost it and attacked him before he could react. I had to reload again."

The tall human looked sorry for that event. "Geez. I wish I knew what had made that happen." 'Though I guess the event technically never happened, so I don't really need to apologize to sans… thankfully.'

"We moved on, and went through Waterfall. You… kept getting angry and killing monsters, and every time I reloaded, you seemed to have a harder time controlling yourself. But, then we got lucky and didn't get attacked one time, so we were able to get through without you getting really angry. You fought Undyne and neither of you died, surprisingly. We moved on and met Alphys, and Mettaton. As we went through Hotland, you killed more monsters, but unlike in Waterfall, you didn't seem to regret doing it most of the time. Things didn't just change there, I had to do something to get you to stop. I talked with you, asked you any questions I could come up with... I did what I could to… distract you, I guess. But… you and I both died there once to some monsters, I remember that." Frisk tried not to think about it, but she couldn't, and she started to cry. "I hate thinking how… every time you died, you felt it, for the first time. You felt the pain of death for the first time, every single time… and the look on your face…"

He couldn't take it anymore and hugged her as tight as he could. "You're right… you never should have had to go through anything that you've been through." He said sadly as he rested his chin on her head. "But… at least I forgot all that when you reloaded. You're the protagonist, you can't just forget. You… know what it's like to die." He said hesitantly. "You didn't deserve that at all!" He said, suddenly very angry. "WHY!? You didn't deserve _any_ of that! You are so precious and sweet and nice, why would the world do this to you!?" He meant to stop and let her relax, but then he noticed something. "…How in the world have you stayed yourself after everything you've been through?" He asked slowly, in shock.

Despite her crying, she couldn't help but chuckle at what she was about to say. "D-Determination." Her voice was muffled since she was speaking into his sleeve.

It caught him off guard so much that it brought him out of his anger. He let out a laugh. "You aren't human." He said, as if it was fact. "But… you're not like me, you aren't part cat or something. No, you're a freaking angel. That's the only explanation."

She blushed at what she felt was a compliment, rather than simply stating a fact (in his opinion). "Thank you." She said softly.

He chuckled and sighed happily. He kept his head still but used his eyes to look out at the sunrise again. Suddenly he was nothing but thankful. Going up to this mountain shouldn't have gone the way it did. He should have died, or simply found out what happened to the missing people and come back with the proof. Instead, so much else happened entirely. And as if it wasn't a long trip for him, Frisk had been through so much more.

"Do you… want to continue?" He asked hesitantly. She seemed to have calmed down, so it seemed safe to at least ask.

She sniffled before pulling away from him and wiping away her tears. "Y-yeah, sure." She took a few breaths and thought about their adventure. "Remember when Mettaton used those walls of fire on us?"

It didn't take him long to nod.

"Well… I went through that twice." Frisk admitted. "After going through that once and realizing we would be fine, I went back and went through it again, just so I could promise you that we would be okay. I hoped it would calm you down a bit, because we were so terrified the first time."

AJ was shocked, but also very thankful. "Well, being surrounded by flames was pretty stressful and you sounding so certain that we would be fine threw me off enough that I wasn't thinking about it. I was… really scared, actually." He admitted hesitantly. "It honestly really did help when you promised that we wouldn't be hurt. All I cared about then was making sure we weren't… burned to death." He didn't really like to think about that, so he tried to think other things. "I don't know why I believed you when you shouldn't have been able to know for sure, but I did, just a bit. So… thank you for doing that."

The younger human smiled at him before looking back out at the human city in the distance. "We made it out of there, had our 'date' with sans, went into the core… You protected us from the mercenaries with the help of your powers. Well… as much as you could anyway."

"Oh yeah, those!" He remembered.

She chuckled. "Yeah… ever since you touched that thing, you just kept getting angrier..." She noted with a frown. "But your powers had saved us from so many things by that point… I felt that it was okay. We, well, _I_ fought Mettaton, and then we left to meet Asgore. Then we met sans, and… he killed us both."

"W-What!?" AJ asked, understandably in shock.

"Y-yeah, it was… really hard to watch you two fight…" She said solemnly. 'I heard someone else while they fought, but sans never mentioned it. I wish I knew what had happened then, and I wish I could have heard what they were saying then.' "And after that, you had your green soul, and you had lost your powers. I don't know how he did it, but I think he got rid of your powers." She said. Her friend looked thoughtful, but a bit annoyed. "He said he had to kill you because of your powers, and once he killed us and made me reload, your powers were gone and your Soul had turned green."

"Well that's weird." He commented. 'And for me, my soul just suddenly changed and then I had a weird urge to be nice to everyone. How did he do that?'

She paused for a moment. "I don't get it. You seemed so nice sometimes, but then something would happen while you were fighting a monster and you would suddenly start trying to kill them, and you did, a lot of times you did kill them. But ever since your soul turned green, I haven't seen that side of you at all, not even in our fight with Asgore. You haven't tried to kill anyone, you haven't seemed rude or… almost emotionless since your soul changed, and you were that way sometimes, almost like you were another person. I wish I knew what he did to you to change you like that." She decided it was best not to dwell on that for now. "He let us go through after that, and then we saw Asgore. I hated it, but I knew we had to fight him, cause when he threw his trident past me then, he had broken my MERCY button."

"Oh! So he didn't do that just to keep us from escaping?" AJ asked.

Frisk shook her head. "No, there was more… purpose to it than that. He thought there was no other way out of this besides one of us dying, and he wanted to make sure I knew that."

The older human imagined what that must have been like for her. "Well that was certainly a statement." He noted with a bit of a chuckle.

She chuckled as well. "Yeah. I didn't even know they could see my buttons, let alone break them."

They were silent for awhile as they admired the scenery and the young human gave him a chance to take things in and think of any last questions he might have.

"And what happened after that?" He asked.

"I… I think that can wait for another day. I don't wanna talk for much longer." She answered hesitantly.

"Okay… Did you ever try explaining this to me before?" He asked.

Frisk sighed. "No. I knew from the beginning that I couldn't tell you about it. You were reset like everything else after I died that first time. I figured this would keep happening, and I would have to keep explaining this to you if I tried to."

"So… why are you explaining this to me now? Why are you finally telling me this?" AJ asked.

The girl waved her hands in front of her, as if she was trying to hit something. "Because you have no idea how many times I've been trying to get my stuff to pop back up again while we've been talking!" She noted with childish annoyance before dropping her arms and looking him in the eyes. "I can't SAVE anymore, AJ. I can't go back to my save, I can't get my HUD to pop up. My powers are gone, too." She explained.

"Seriously?" He asked, surprised.

She nodded. "Mhm. I think all the magic in there mixed with my huge determination and gave me that power. I don't know why I think that though… But now that the barrier is gone and all the magic is probably flying out into the world… I don't think anyone can have that power anymore."

"So… things are really over for you now? You can live normally again?" Her friend asked.

She smiled. Finally, for the first time in this conversation, her normal smile was back. "Yep. I think it's finally over." She couldn't help but hug him again.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you while you went through all that, but I'm glad it's over for you, and I'm glad I can help you now." AJ spoke before they ended their embrace.

It all really sunk in for her, then. Her friend that she was so worried about was staying, and now all of monster kind had been freed. They were gonna live with Toriel in whatever place they were going to find.

 _They had found their home._

She couldn't help but tear up a bit as she really let that sink in. "*sniffle* And I'm, I'm glad you're staying here to help. I'm really, really glad you're staying here. Thank you."

"Why are you so happy about that?" He couldn't help but ask. She just seemed so happy about that. Sure she wanted to find a home for them both, but she seemed so relieved.

"I said it already, I know you just wanted to die when we got out of here. So… I'm really glad you're not doing that." She explained. "You know… You say a lot of bad things when you do something bad." She noted with a bit of a grin that quickly faded.

"What, like… I swear?" He asked hesitantly.

"Yeah… you did kind of do that." She answered with a hesitant chuckle as she rubbed the back of her head.

He looked down in embarrassment. "Sorry…"

"It's okay, I understand." She said softly. "That's… not what I meant though. You… put yourself down a lot every time you realized that you had killed a monster without meaning to, usually because you were angry."

"Yeah, that's kind of my thing." He said plainly. "I'm brutally honest with myself when I do something stupid."

"You're not being honest though, you're being dumb!" She argued. "You call yourself stupid! How can a person as smart as you say you're stupid!?"

He shrugged, not knowing how to really answer. "Ever heard the phrase, 'I'm my own worst critic'?" He asked.

The smaller human blinked twice in realization. "Actually I think you mumbled that once in Hotland before I reset." She realized.

"Well, that's how I am." He said plainly. "Don't know how else to say it."

Suddenly a determined spark appeared in her eyes as she leaned close and brought her face close to his. "Well I know what I can do now that the reloads won't happen! I can keep telling you how you really are and I don't have to worry about a reload making you forget everything!"

He raised an eyebrow in amusement. "What? You think you're going to change me and make me stop 'putting myself down'?" He stood up and looked down at the girl. "Frisk, as someone who knows himself very well, I'm just gonna say it, you need to give up on that _now_. That is who I am and no force on this Earth can change it."

"But it's not right! You shouldn't put yourself down like that!" She said adamantly, standing up as well, though that didn't change the fact that she still had to look up at him.

"Yes, people like to say that for some reason, but you don't see that affecting me!" He pointed out.

"It will help you be happier if you stop doing that!" She countered.

"Being the way I am comes with being a realist, Frisk." He pointed out. "We recognize reality and don't pretend it isn't there. You know, that thing you optimists like to do." He added, only to see her expression not budge an inch. He sighed in annoyance. "Look, I appreciate that you are willing to try, and you can try if you want, but don't expect me to ever change." 'I really don't see the problem though!'

"We'll see about that!" Frisk exclaimed, full of determination. Though her face was nothing but an adorable one and her fellow human couldn't help but lift her off the ground in a hug. "Aaaaagh! Put me down!" The girl cried out. She was trying and failing to hold back her laughs and she wanted to be put down so she could stop laughing. "We should really go catch up with Toriel and the others!" She said in hopes that he would let go.

"Oh! Right!" He said before setting the girl down. "Well… this is going to be interesting." He realized.

"Yeah." She agreed as she stopped laughing. "We have a lot ahead of us, don't we?" She realized.

"I think that's a safe bet to make, yeah." He answered while adamantly nodding.

They turned and went down the path that their friends went, filled with anticipation among many other things. Monsters were in the world again, and they weren't sure how everyone would react to that. But, they had promised that they would stay, so they were going to see it through.

They both realized somewhere in there, that their days of protecting each other weren't over yet. Protecting each other's physical, emotional, and mental states was something they would be doing for probably a long time.

*Last Goodbye plays in the distance…*

* * *

" **Is this the end?"**

 **Well, I mean, I'm doing a sequel, so while this fanfic has ended, the series hasn't. This isn't _really_ the last goodbye, I just needed to throw that in because listening to the end of that song, and knowing it's called "Last Goodbye" makes me really emotional, in a good way. I'll explain what comes next in a second.**

 **Man, ProtectorTale never was much of a name, was it? XD Couldn't think of anything else and didn't know what the story would be like at the time, so that became the name and I just let it stay that way. Like, seriously, all I knew when I started this was "Fall into Underground, protect Frisk." I could never have known that all** _ **this**_ **would have ended up happening.**

 **Anyway, this is the end of ProtectorTale. This is the canon ending of ProtectorTale. I got a surprise for you all though, and I honestly can't wait any longer to tell you. Actually, two surprises.**

 **1: Alternate endings (kind of sort of)! I had an idea or two for how this fanfic could end, but my mind focused on this one and I liked it the most, so I let this become canon. However, I kind of want to write at least** _ **parts**_ **of the other endings and possibly other bonus stuff. Going all anime mode in a 2V1 fight against Asriel? A short little thing where Chara isn't a murderer trying to take control of the older human's body? I'm game. (Random fact: The Chara I wrote into this story actually totally goes against my headcanon for Chara) I've decided I'm going to separate these into a separate fanfic which will likely be called "ProtectorTale: Alternates" or something to that degree because of how many ideas I've had, which is more than two.**

 **2: A Sequel! I kind of want to write more stuff with all our characters as they live on the surface. At the moment that I'm writing this, I have some idea of what I want to do. However, it isn't something that would have a definite end, it would just kind of keep going as I thought of stuff. It would just be general life stuff. Happy times, and some (prob a lot) fluffy bonding moments, and some more fight scenes, and some (hopefully) interesting events, some difficult moments, and eventually my AU that I spent months working on will take center stage… more OCs then, maybe shipping? Undetermined shipping? A lot could happen. Almost anything could happen, really, that's real life for ya. Well, real life mixed with magic and monsters and stuff.**

 **Speaking of real life you can pretty much say goodbye to my posting schedule. I'm not sure how much I will even be focusing on the slice of life thing seeing as it takes much more thought and planning than anything else I've done before.**

 **Hey, remember when I said that I was writing "after ending stuff" instead of writing this story? You probably don't, seeing as that was back in Snowdin Forest times, ch.9 actually. Anyway, the "After ending stuff" was actually this, this post-pacifist story idea. I have written quite a bit of that story, 20000 words (*Whispers* it's only two chapters though), like I had said. I wonder how many more I'll have written before I post this chapter? Edit: F'n NONE**

 **So, a post-pacifist story with no official end, and non-canon stuff… Those are the ProtectorTale related things you can expect from me. I'm not sure if I'll even do anything besides that. I do have one last idea for a story, but it wouldn't be Undertale related, and I'm just not sure if I'm interested in dedicating myself to it. There would be almost nothing to it, honestly, not worth writing.**

 **Anyway, I hope you all didn't have a bad time reaching this point. I hope you all have a very good day, and a great week! And if you enjoyed this lengthy story, let me know!**

 **ProAJ13, your resident angel, is off to write the next… thing!**

 **(Eeeeey 25 pages of writing for chapter 25)**

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Toriel opened the door and walked into the room. She smiled as she set down the two plates with slices of pie on them. There Frisk was, sleeping on the one bed in the room. The bed was large enough for the older human to fit, but he refused and simply slept on a rolled up rug on the floor until tomorrow, when they would get the second bed. The monster couldn't help but smile at the familiar sight. At that moment, the things to come didn't matter. All that mattered was that the two heroes of the Underground finally slept in the home they wanted. Goat Mom quickly backed out before her emotions could get the better of her and she ended up waking them up, but she still smiled at them one last time before closing the door.

A few minutes later, a short skeleton appeared in front of the window to the second story room. He quietly looked through the window, and his smile faltered at what he saw. He teleported inside silently. 'Once again, I have to fix this...' He thought with a quiet sigh as he raised both the humans into their air with his telekinesis. Thankfully, they still seemed unable to feel what he was doing and didn't wake up. He lowered AJ onto the bed and then set Frisk down on top of him. He smiled at the familiar sight, and at the fact that they looked more at peace now. 'There. Finally getting the sleep you two deserve.' He thought before teleporting away.


	26. The One About The Sequel

So... I don't normally do this, but I can't help but notice the low number of follows on Life Above. Now, I could make a list of potential reasons for not wanting to read the sequel to this fic, BUT, I am posting this quick message in case there are some people that just plain didn't know.

THERE IS A SEQUEL TO PROTECTORTALE

Though, I guess calling its a sequel might make you get certain expectations, so let me make things clear. It's called "ProtectorTale: Life Above", and it's a _slice of life_ sequel to this fic. So if you're expecting the sequel to be the same kind of story as this one, it's not. It's just following them (mostly the two humans) through normal life on the surface. Well, as normal as life can get with monsters and magic and stuff. They deal with more-or-less what you'd expect them to have to deal with in their situation. There is this AU I made that I've been hinting at and showing bits of throughout this fanfic, which will take a more major role in the story later on to make things more interesting. BUT, it's really just for people who want to see more of the characters and don't really care what they're doing, or I guess for people who are bored and will read anything. It's also for me cause I just really want to write more with these characters. :3

Oh, and I also made this other fic called "ProtectorTale: Alternates!" (You can tell how good I am at names) and it's just a place where I can post random stuff related to this fic that isn't actually canon with it. "What if's" and parts of other ways this fic could have ended, stuff like that. I don't have much on it right now, but I will over time. Heck, if you give me a "what if" situation with these characters, I might even write something about it and post it there!

That concludes this message. I hope you have a good day!


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